Nearly 50 advertisers who partnered with the BBMP to build skywalks, public toilets and bus shelters have been served demand notice for failing to pay the annual advertising fees.
The civic body cites the 2019 advertisement rules to ask for the dues running up to Rs 500 crore, while advertisers have decided to seek legal help.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) built several skywalks, public toilets, and bus shelters under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. The local body granted advertisement rights for around 20 years for creating the civic amenities and it asked advertisers to pay annual ground rent and advertisement fee.
Barring advertisements displayed under the PPP model, all other outdoor ads are banned in the city. Since only a few companies have the rights to advertise, sources said each hoarding earns anywhere from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 3 lakh a month.
“We have issued notices to around 50 firms. The advertisers were not paying dues to the BBMP by citing confusion over GST. This cannot go on for long,” a senior BBMP official said. He said around 50 advertisers have received demand notices. “Besides ground rent, we charge a monthly fee of Rs 600 to Rs 780 per square meter of commercial hoarding as per the provisions of the 2019 Act.”
Advertisers themselves are divided between the ones who hold PPP projects and the others are lobbying hard to bring commercial advertisements by pressuring senior state government officials.
Last week, the agencies having PPP projects gathered at a private hotel to decide their future course of action. “We have already been paying advertisement taxes. There is no scope to collect the GST component separately. The BBMP has sought details such as ground rent and advertisement tax paid since 2017,” one of the advertisers said.
It is also learnt that some advertisers have been paying ground rent for only 100 bus shelters by concealing the actual number of bus shelters in the city that are at least five times the figures given to the BBMP.