Karnataka - Mangalore   

Corporation on collision course with Govt. over SAS

By M. Raghuram

MANGALORE, MAY 1. The Mangalore City Corporation has decided to explore legal options to stall the implementation of the self-assessment scheme (SAS) for payment of property tax, despite being susceptible to being superseded by the Government.

The Mayor, K. Diwakar, told The Hindu that the corporation had no alternative but to take legal recourse as the Congress won the elections to the corporation in 2002 after it promised that SAS would not be implemented. This promise would be kept and all efforts would be made to stall the implementation of SAS, he said.

He said the ruling Congress and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had arrived at a consensus on the issue and passed three resolutions between 2002-04 against the implementation of the scheme. Mr. Diwakar said that however, there was a ray of hope for the council to save itself from being superseded. The Minister for Urban Development, D.K. Shivakumar, had promised that the Government would consider fixing the tax rate at 0.3 per cent or 0.6 per cent of the value of a plot. The corporation was now lobbying to keep the tax rate at 0.3 per cent for Mangalore city.

The implementation of SAS has been a bone of contention between the State Government and the corporation for quite sometime now. While some corporators want the civic body to take on the Government on the issue, some of their "liberal" colleagues feel that it is advisable to negotiate with the Government and keep the tax rate at 0.3 per cent of the value of the property.

At this juncture, when the fate of all political parties are sealed in the electronic voting machines, the Congress councillors are reluctant to lose their post if the council is superseded as they believe that their party will return to power. But the BJP councillors do not share the view and they don't mind laying down office in the event of the council being superseded by the Government. Either way, the corporation seems to be headed for a showdown with the Government.

If the stand taken by the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, B. Janardhana Poojary, on the implementation of SAS is any indication, the issue can cause more embarrassment to the Congress then to other parties. However, it is pertinent to note that the corporation has chosen to differ with the Government, though the same party controls the corporation as well as the Government.

However, both Mr. Diwakar and Mr. Poojary agree that till such time the Government finalises the tax system, it is hard for the corporation to carry on without property tax receipts.

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