Popular shopping mall Mantri Square was saved from certain closure on Thursday when its management hurriedly paid the BBMP Rs 5 crore out of the nearly Rs 40 crore in property tax dues.
When a team of revenue officials led by BBMP Joint Commissioner (West) B Shivaswamy showed up at the mall in North Bengaluru, they intended to seal it by all means.
Seeing the BBMP team, the mall authorities quickly handed over a demand draft for Rs 5 crore and gave a written undertaking to pay the rest by October 31, 2021.
Abhishek Developers, the mall’s promoters, owed Rs 39.49 crore in property tax and had reportedly defaulted on payment several times.
The firm had earlier given a cheque for Rs 10,43,81,045, drawn on a Canara Bank account, towards property tax dues for 2018-19. But the cheque bounced due to insufficient funds, and the BBMP hauled it up in court (cheque bounce case number 16168/2021). The promoters were sent several reminder notices but still failed to clear the dues.
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