<p>An online signature campaign says the BBMP’s claim that thousands of citizens evaded tax since 2016-17 is completely “untrue, unreasonable and unfair.” </p>.<p>Srikanth Narasimhan, founder and general secretary, Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP), tells <span class="italic">Metrolife</span>, “The petition has 3,000 signatures within a week.</p>.<p>We believe that close to one lakh households have already been served notices and many others might also get notices.”</p>.<p>The party and along with it, thousands of citizens, will take legal recourse if the BBMP does not sort out the problem, he warned.</p>.<p>The BBMP is claiming arrears for five years from tens of thousands of citizens, alleging they entered the zone wrongly. Citizens are furious with the charge, saying they paid according to the BBMP website, and if anything is wrong at all, it is because the BBMP did not follow due process.</p>.<p>“We have already explained in the petition the serious shortcomings in the process and which are very fundamental in nature, such as, not publicising the notification, not giving alerts to consumers at the time of payment and no automatic classification of properties and notices being served after five years.”</p>.<p>“This means that it is either a deliberate attempt to penalise people or complete unprofessionalism, either or both of which are unacceptable,” says Srikanth.</p>.<p>D R Prakash, property tax consultant and founder-president of the Osborne Road Residents Welfare Association, says the BBMP must immediately withdraw the notices.</p>.<p>P C Rao, president of the Bengaluru Hoteliers Association, says thousands of restaurant and hotel owners have received such notices, and the association will soon meet the BBMP commissioner.</p>.<p>“If you look at the website, it continues to show the old amount. They should have upgraded the software and not subjected citizens to such suffering,” he says.</p>.<p>Zibi Jamal, a Whitefield resident, is among those objecting to the notices. “The penalty of 200% is shocking and the fine of 2% every month being levied from Feb 2021, when the notice was only given in July 2021, is unreasonable,” says Zibi. </p>.<p>She wrote to the BBMP on August 3 and received an acknowledgement that it will be looked into.</p>.<p><strong>Citizens’ rights</strong></p>.<p>Section 108A of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act of 1976 says owners can object within 30 days to wrongful assessment of their taxes, according to S Dinesh, advocate and consultant with Intelectia. It is easier for the BBMP to resolve the problem and make amends, he says.</p>.<p>“They can freeze the zones and by doing so, the element of wrong zonal calculations would be eliminated. With the data available in BBMP’s hands, it should be possible to apply the correct zones to every property. As a civic authority, BBMP should be proactive and enable the public to file correct taxes with ease,” he says. Dinesh says the BBMP issued notices, dated February 2021, in the month of July 2021.</p>.<p>“Whether this delay will also attract a 2% penal interest per month, between February and July, is to be seen,” he says.</p>.<p><strong>Received appeals, says BBMP chief</strong></p>.<p>BBMP chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta says he has received complaints and he is looking into the problem. “We will examine the penal provisions and look at arriving at a decision because finances are involved,” he told Metrolife.</p>.<p>He claims the BBMP issued notices only after confirming that people have selected the wrong zones and evaded tax. Citizens are outraged at the suggestion that it is their mistake, and not the BBMP’s. “Totally untrue. Gupta is misleading everyone. We did not enter anything wrongly. We paid according to the BBMP website as we had been doing in earlier years,” says a citizen.</p>.<p><strong>Petition</strong></p>.<p>To sign the Bengaluru Navanirmana Party’s petition, log onto propertytax.nammabnp.org</p>
<p>An online signature campaign says the BBMP’s claim that thousands of citizens evaded tax since 2016-17 is completely “untrue, unreasonable and unfair.” </p>.<p>Srikanth Narasimhan, founder and general secretary, Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP), tells <span class="italic">Metrolife</span>, “The petition has 3,000 signatures within a week.</p>.<p>We believe that close to one lakh households have already been served notices and many others might also get notices.”</p>.<p>The party and along with it, thousands of citizens, will take legal recourse if the BBMP does not sort out the problem, he warned.</p>.<p>The BBMP is claiming arrears for five years from tens of thousands of citizens, alleging they entered the zone wrongly. Citizens are furious with the charge, saying they paid according to the BBMP website, and if anything is wrong at all, it is because the BBMP did not follow due process.</p>.<p>“We have already explained in the petition the serious shortcomings in the process and which are very fundamental in nature, such as, not publicising the notification, not giving alerts to consumers at the time of payment and no automatic classification of properties and notices being served after five years.”</p>.<p>“This means that it is either a deliberate attempt to penalise people or complete unprofessionalism, either or both of which are unacceptable,” says Srikanth.</p>.<p>D R Prakash, property tax consultant and founder-president of the Osborne Road Residents Welfare Association, says the BBMP must immediately withdraw the notices.</p>.<p>P C Rao, president of the Bengaluru Hoteliers Association, says thousands of restaurant and hotel owners have received such notices, and the association will soon meet the BBMP commissioner.</p>.<p>“If you look at the website, it continues to show the old amount. They should have upgraded the software and not subjected citizens to such suffering,” he says.</p>.<p>Zibi Jamal, a Whitefield resident, is among those objecting to the notices. “The penalty of 200% is shocking and the fine of 2% every month being levied from Feb 2021, when the notice was only given in July 2021, is unreasonable,” says Zibi. </p>.<p>She wrote to the BBMP on August 3 and received an acknowledgement that it will be looked into.</p>.<p><strong>Citizens’ rights</strong></p>.<p>Section 108A of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act of 1976 says owners can object within 30 days to wrongful assessment of their taxes, according to S Dinesh, advocate and consultant with Intelectia. It is easier for the BBMP to resolve the problem and make amends, he says.</p>.<p>“They can freeze the zones and by doing so, the element of wrong zonal calculations would be eliminated. With the data available in BBMP’s hands, it should be possible to apply the correct zones to every property. As a civic authority, BBMP should be proactive and enable the public to file correct taxes with ease,” he says. Dinesh says the BBMP issued notices, dated February 2021, in the month of July 2021.</p>.<p>“Whether this delay will also attract a 2% penal interest per month, between February and July, is to be seen,” he says.</p>.<p><strong>Received appeals, says BBMP chief</strong></p>.<p>BBMP chief commissioner Gaurav Gupta says he has received complaints and he is looking into the problem. “We will examine the penal provisions and look at arriving at a decision because finances are involved,” he told Metrolife.</p>.<p>He claims the BBMP issued notices only after confirming that people have selected the wrong zones and evaded tax. Citizens are outraged at the suggestion that it is their mistake, and not the BBMP’s. “Totally untrue. Gupta is misleading everyone. We did not enter anything wrongly. We paid according to the BBMP website as we had been doing in earlier years,” says a citizen.</p>.<p><strong>Petition</strong></p>.<p>To sign the Bengaluru Navanirmana Party’s petition, log onto propertytax.nammabnp.org</p>