Cabinet nod for SAS

Cabinet nod for SAS
DH News Service, Bangalore:
Collection of property tax in Bangalore, which had come to a standstill during the last two months, will resume now.


The State Cabinet on Thursday decided to continue with the Self Assessment Scheme (SAS) system under Annual Rental Value in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits, and also constituted a Cabinet committee to revisit the controversial Capital Value System (CVS).

In its first major Cabinet meeting, the BJP government also decided to review Sakrama scheme for regularisation of building bylaw violations and introduce a new version by December-end.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Home Minister V S Acharya and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Shobha Karandlaje said residents in Bangalore could pay property tax under SAS system until further decision. The requirement amendment to the law will be made soon. However, the BBMP till late in the evening did not indicate from when the property owners may pay the tax. “We are yet to receive communication from the government regarding the decision it has taken”, a BBMP officer said.

Report in 3 months

A Cabinet committee comprising all ministers from Bangalore will look into various aspects of CVS scheme and submit a report in three months. The final decision will be based on the recom-mendations of the com-mittee.
The BBMP had decided to introduce CVS as per the provisions of the KMC Act, 1976 from April 1. But it was put on hold hours before imple-mentation. Governor Rameshwar Thakur had directed the BBMP not to implement CVS for collection of property tax till a new government was formed.

There had been widespread protest against its implementation by residents’ welfare associations, as the rates under the new scheme were high. Under the CVS, the BBMP had fixed the rate at 0.5 per cent of taxable capital value for residential buildings and two per cent for commercial properties. SAS follows Annual Rental Value, where the tax is calculated on the gross rent collected by the building owner. An interim appli-cation will be filed before the Karnataka High Court as the issue is before the court, Dr Acharya said.

Meanwhile, status quo on the Sakrama scheme on regularisation of unaut-horised constructions and developments — which had been kept on hold — will be maintained at least till December 31 this year.

Dr Acharya said a Cabinet committee would be constituted to review the scheme.
The panel will be given time till December-end to submit report.

Sakrama ran into trouble on account of protests from citizen groups alleging heavy penalty for regularisation of building violations in urban areas. Sakrama sought to regularise up to 50 per cent of deviations in case of residences and 25 per cent in case of buildings used for commercial activities.

In February, during President’s rule, the State Executive Committee had even approved a major slash in the regularisation fee for small sites.

The High Court ordered a review of the scheme with extension of deadline. The ruling dispensation then deferred the scheme till an elected government was in place.

TAXING TIME

* Property owners in Bangalore can pay tax as per Self Assessment Scheme (SAS) under Annual Rental Value
* Cabinet committee to revisit Capita Value System (CVS); final decision in three months
* Status quo on Sakrama — which has been put on hold — to be maintained till year-end
* Expert committee to look into various aspects of Sakrama