Task force recommends taxing illegal properties

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Feb 3: A G Kodgi, the chairman of the task force on implementing the recommendations of the State Third Finance Commission, and T Thimme Gowda, its member, suggested that taxes must be collected irrespective of whether the property is legal or illegal during a meeting organized at the MCC on Tuesday. They said that Section 112 (C) of the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, permitted the collection of taxes on illegal and unauthorized properties too. 

DC of Dakshina Kannada V Ponnuraj, however, begged to differ. He said that such a move would actually encourage people to amass unauthorized property. The aforementioned act also provided for the demolition of illegal structures, he said. The act must be perceived from a broad perspective in order to foster the planned development of the city, he suggested. 

But Kodgi and Gowda refused to see the point. They said that the act permitted demolition of illegal structures. At the same time, the MCC can collect taxes from them for revenue, they suggested.