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Municipal Finance

Reluctance to collect professional tax draining Corporation coffers

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The Hindu        Kerala (Kochi)     06.09.2016

Reluctance to collect professional tax draining Corporation coffers

Civic body has not responded to queries raised by auditors

The Kochi Corporation’s approach of going soft on professionals in the city has led to a huge revenue loss, an audit report has found.

The annual audit, conducted by the Local Fund Audit wing of the State government, has revealed that the civic body was reluctant to collect professional tax from the various professionals working in the city.

There are around 2,000 lawyers attending to various city courts as well as the High Court of Kerala. Of this, 120 work as government pleaders and 100 others as public prosecutors. However, professional tax was collected from only a few lawyers. The civic body officials did not respond to the queries raised by the auditors in this regard.

A large number of doctors are employed in nursing homes, health care centres, private hospitals, government hospitals and super specialty hospitals in the city. On inspection of the records, according to the auditors, professional tax was collected from only a few doctors. The civic body sustained heavy loss on account of the failure of the authorities to collect the tax, said the report.

The State auditors also pointed out that the civic body was in the dark about the officials engaged in the work of the Kochi metro rail. The civic body has not paid attention to collect professional tax for the 2014-15 fiscal though the metro works began in the city in 2013. There were also lapses in collecting the tax from those employed in Kendriya Vidyalayas and unaided CBSE schools in the city.

The audit report has pulled up the officials of the corporation for their failure in assessing and collecting the professional tax. It also found lapses in maintaining the documents related to the collection of professional tax.


GAPING HOLES

Annual audit finds that civic body has collected tax only from a few lawyers and doctors in the city

Auditors point out the Corporation is in the dark about officials engaged in metro rail work

 

Corporation spends 73 % plan fund for development

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The Hindu       22.01.2015   

Corporation spends 73 % plan fund for development

By spending 73 per cent of its plan fund and implementing landmark projects, Thrissur Corporation has made its mark in the State, said its Mayor Rajan Pallan.

Addressing the corporation council meeting on Wednesday, the Mayor reviewed the performance of the UDF-led Corporation so far in this term.

The projects including Rs. 35-crore road repairs, KSRTC junction development and decentralised waste management plants were major achievements of the UDF council, he noted. He highlighted the works such as development of East Fort and Naduvilal junctions and Pattalam Road, and rehabilitation project for slum dwellers at Mattampuram as feathers in the caps of the UDF council.

“The file adalats began to handle the pending complaints were a huge success. The adalats were conducted at Corporation offices and the zonal offices every 100 days. Two sessions of adalats have been held so far and the third session will be held in February. An amount of Rs. 1 crore was recovered during the adalats,” Mayor said.

For Pattalam road development the Corporation managed to get the green signal from the postal department and BSNL to demolish the buildings and compound wall to remove the bottleneck at the post office junction. The Poonkunnam road development is another landmark success,” he noted.

Listing the achievements, the Mayor said more than 22 shops were removed at the East Fort for the road widening. The shoppers have been successfully rehabilitated.

Each division was given Rs. 50 lakh for public works alone. A new system was set up to handle the complaints on streetlights. A toll free number was set up for the public to file complaints.

Councillor Annam John demanded the Corporation to complete the development works at Aquatic Complex road and Palace road before National Games. Councillor Lally James alleged irregularities in selecting the beneficiaries of housing project for physically challenged.

The Mayor said the development of Chettiyangadi will be completed soon after removing the dilapidated buildings. The Nehru Park will be renovated at Rs. 5 cr in two phases. The work for development of North and Sakthan bus stations will also start soon, he said. The initial discussions have been started for the development of Koorkkanchery junction, he added.

 

MCC launches drive to mop up revenue

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The Hindu       07.01.2015    

MCC launches drive to mop up revenue

It will crackdown on shops without valid trading licence

Mayor R. Lingappa and officials of the Mysore City Corporation verifying trade licences of retailers in Mysuru on Tuesday.— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM
Mayor R. Lingappa and officials of the Mysore City Corporation verifying trade licences of retailers in Mysuru on Tuesday.— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has launched a drive to issue and renew trading licences of business establishments operating in the city.

It will also crackdown on those operating without a valid trading licence as part of its efforts to mop up revenue.

Mayor R. Lingappa launched the drive from Saraswathipuram and pointed out that of the 457 business establishments in his ward, only 65 had trade licences, while 75 had not renewed their licenses issued last year.

The remaining traders were operating without a valid license and causing loss to the MCC, he said.

He cautioned that establishments operating without a valid trade licence would be closed and a few shops operating without license were shut down to reinforce the MCC’s seriousness about the issue.

Mr. Lingappa said that as per the official estimate, there are nearly 21,800 business establishments in the city.

“But, I have sought for a fresh survey and expect the number to be between 35,000 and 40,000, he said. The Assistant Commissioners in the MCC’s nine revenue divisions have been directed to update the figures. The licence fee ranges from Rs. 500 to Rs. 10,000 per year.

The ongoing drive also aims to collect property tax from the public for the financial year 2014–15.

The property tax target for the current fiscal is Rs. 85 crore from the 1.76 lakh registered properties under the tax net. Besides, there are 19,750 revenue site properties which will yield additional revenue of Rs. 7 crore.

The Mayor was accompanied by senior officials of the MCC and the police.

The drive also aims to collect property tax from the public for the financial year 2014–15

 


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