JOIN US The state government shunted out G Kumar Naik a year after he was posted as commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). Naik will be succeeded by N Manjunath Prasad, a 1994 batch IAS officer.
Naik has been posted as managing director, Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL), while the incumbent M Maheshwar Rao will take charge as secretary (agriculture), the post earlier held by Prasad.
Sources in the BBMP said differences with Bengaluru Development Minister K J George cost Naik his post. About two months ago, the BBMP had slapped a demand notice on a hotel near the HAL Airport asking it to pay the property tax, which ran into crores of rupees. A BBMP insider said the tax is somewhere close to Rs 15 crore. The hotel management had resisted and disagreed over the way the tax was assessed.
The BBMP, however, insisted that its assessment was correct.
Finally, the hotel had to pay the tax through a demand draft before March 31, but the Palike officials could not deposit the amount.
A senior BBMP officer at Mahadevapura zone, under which the hotel falls, said on condition of anonymity: “The amount mentioned in the demand draft and the receipt generated by the BBMP’s property tax portal mismatched by a few thousand rupees. As a result, the demand draft was not deposited. We have sent the matter to the legal cell.”
Some other builders, too, were unhappy with Naik over not approving their projects. When contacted, Naik said transfers are the prerogative of the government and he will not comment on it.
Taking charge
Prasad will take charge as BBMP commissioner on Monday as he is presently touring drought-affected districts of north Karnataka.
An MTech in design engineering, Prasad has earlier served as secretary (social welfare) and managing director of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation.