Karnataka government offices highest property tax defaulters in Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike

Hubballi-Dharwad Mahanagara Palike, which is grappling for funds to take up development work, is yet to get property tax dues of Rs 22 crore from the defaulters for the year 2020-21. And unfortunately, the majority of the defaulters are government offices, including the deputy commissioner’s office, top educational institutes, Hubballi Airport among others.

According to documents available with DH, M G Mehata & Co has to pay property dues to the tune of Rs 1.04 crore (to be precise Rs 1,04,34,204/-) including a penalty of Rs 70.69 lakh. Sources in HDMP said they are fighting a legal case against the company to collect the dues.

Hubballi Airport Authority is the second-highest property tax defaulter in twin cities. It has to pay HDMP a total of Rs 67.77 lakh of which Rs 22.05 lakh is a penalty and the tax balance is Rs 43.96 lakh. North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation Control Room has to clear dues to the tune of Rs 60.86 lakh (penalty Rs 26.95 lakh), while its other office in Gokul road hasn’t cleared property tax of Rs 2.79 lakh. NWKRTC is the third-highest property tax defaulters.

The South Western Railway has not paid property tax of Rs 1.08 lakh, including a penalty of Rs 68,402.

In the list of top 23 property tax defaulters, prepared by the HDMP, the fourth spot is occupied by Associated pricizen Spendal Ltd (sic), which hasn’t paid property tax of 53.77 lakh for the year 2020-21. Karnataka Lingayat Education Society, which runs several reputed education institutes in North Karnataka, has not paid property tax of Rs 42.77 lakh. This apart, its B V Bhoomreddi Engineering college has also not paid a property tax to the tune of Rs 4.59 lakh. HDMP has slapped a penalty of Rs 4.21 lakh on the premier technical institute.

The sixth-largest defaulter of the property tax is Basavareddi Education trust with Rs 40.92 lakh dues. This is followed by Karnataka State Warehouse Corporation (KSWC), Bengaluru whose office is near Hosur Junction. The warehouse has to pay HDMP Rs 40.87 lakh. Another unit of KSWC near Amargol have to clear dues worth Rs 37.67 lakh and ranks ninth in the shameful list of defaulters.

The commercial Tax office at Navanagar has not cleared taxes to the tune of Rs 37.80 lakh (ranks 8th in the list). They are also supposed to clear a penalty of Rs 29.12 lakh.

Two properties of Deshpande Foundation has not cleared property taxes to the tune of Rs 53 lakhs. While their building near Airport has not paid Rs 23.23 lakh, their second building has to pay Rs 30.43 lakh.

Infosys Limited, which has not started its unit even after four years of completion, has not paid a property tax of Rs 5.27 lakh. Another notable defaulter is the APMC office at Amargol, which has to pay Rs 6.45 lakh property taxes. Dharwad Division post office has also not paid a tax of Rs 3.95 lakh.

The Deputy Commissioner’s office, which has to pay a property tax of Rs 39,533 is the least among all the government offices. Deputy Commissioner Nitesh Patil said the office was ready to pay its taxes. However, due to confusion over which are properties for which they are supposed to pay taxes made the delay. “DC Compound is spread over 100 acres. More than 50 shops and other government buildings have taken over their space. We have asked HDMP to give us a list of property on which they are levying tax on us. HDMP has not given us the list yet,” he said.

HDMP Revenue Deputy Commissioner Shankaranand Banashankari said efforts are being made to collect the taxes. “We are also fighting legal cases against some of the defaulters,” he said.