Palike to collect betterment fee from converted properties

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will start collecting betterment charges from those properties, which have got the land use changed to non-agriculture. This will pave way for issuing ‘A’ khata to thousands of properties within the BBMP limits.

Speaking to reporters, the Taxation and Finance Committee chairman M Shivaraju, whose tenure ends on September 19, said the High Court had recently given the BBMP a go-ahead to collect the betterment charges.

“The court has allowed us to collect betterment charges at Rs 200 per square metre in the core Bengaluru region and Rs 250 per square metre in the newly added areas. We are expecting to generate about Rs 466.23 crore,” said Shivaraju.

He added that ‘A’ khata could be issued to the properties, which have been converted for non-agricultural purposes. But, the khata cannot be issued in case the property owner is a GPA holder.

The Palike is also expecting Rs 321.22 crore as advertisement tax from 5,427 hoardings across the city. “We have issued notices to the advertisement agencies to pay the dues,” said Shivaraju.

He added that the BBMP is yet to recover Rs 161.84 crore from 49 major tax defaulters across eight BBMP zones. Chaitanya Properties (Rs 29.13 crore), GE India Technology (Rs 16.37 crore), Wipro Limited (Rs 16.56 crore), Vydehi Hospital (Rs 7.97 crore), Subramanya Constructions (Rs 29.03 crore), Susheela N Reddy-Royal Meenakshi Mahal (Rs 23.36 crore) and KSCA (Rs 5.65 crore) are among the 49 tax defaulters. The Palike has also planned a door-to-door tax collection drive.

Shivaraju said the BBMP is in the process of getting back three of its landmark properties, which were mortgaged to meet its financial exigencies.

“We will soon get back Malleswaram Market, Johnson Market and Rajajinagar Market. These were mortgaged earlier.” he added.