The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday submitted to the high court that there are 2,439 unauthorised hoardings in the city. The civic agency also said that they have so far removed 1,841 such billboards.
There are 605 unauthorised hoardings yet to be removed. BBMP counsel V Sreenidhi submitted the status report which said, an amount of Rs 29.59 crore has been collected as advertisement tax from 2,621 advertising agencies till December 31, 2016. At the previous hearing, the BBMP commissioner had informed the court that BBMP has issued 5,507 notices demanding annual charges, penalty charges and interest charges. The total amount demanded is Rs. 331.92 crore. In the status report, the Palike has said that of all the persons to whom notices were issued, only 94 have made the full payment amounting to Rs 1.88 crore.
Justice Vineet Kothari is hearing a batch petitions where in Shine Outdoor Media, an advertising agency and others have challenged the demand notices issued by BBMP.
The judge had passed an order on December 15 framing certain guidelines in tax collection after which BBMP had collected nearly Rs 24.98 crore from 879 hoardings as advertisement tax from eight zones of the city. The judge directed BBMP to file its next status report and adjourned the next hearing to January 25, 2017.
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