‘Follow Ahmedabad on property tax’ Project report ready, tendering to start soon

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday advised the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commission to consider a scientific mechanism for calculating property tax, along the lines of Ahmedabad, where the area of the premises, the type and age of the building is taken into consideration while determining tax.

“Ask municipal commissioner [Sitaram Kunte] to consider the property tax formula applied in Ahmedabad,” the division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice MS Sanklecha told counsel for BMC Sharmila Modle.

The court was hearing a petition, filed by an association of Parsi religious bodies, challenging the new property tax regime.

The new capital value-based regime takes into the base value of the property, user category, ready-reckoner rate, built-up area among others to derive the tax. The judges contended it is complicated and is not citizenfriendly. In comparison, they held, the system in Ahmedabad takes into account select factors such as age, location and carpet area and is easier to understand.

Rafiq Dada, who represents the petitioners, said in the petitioners’ case, the capital value does not come into question, because a fire temple, for instance, cannot have a capital value as it cannot be sold or otherwise disposed of. He said the petitioners have already paid the property tax for April 1 to September 30, 2013 and sought interim relief on payment of tax for the rest of the financial year.

The judges restrained the BMC from taking any coercive steps for recovering tax from the petitioner organisations subject to payment of 25% of the property tax demanded by the civic body for the next six months. MUMBAI: The elevated corridor linking Bandra Kurla Complex to the Eastern Express Highway has moved a step closer to reality, with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) finalising a detailed project report for it.

The agency will now seek administrative approval for the project. The tendering process will then start in a few months.

The elevated corridor, which links BKC to the eastern express highway near Sion, will provide a smoother, faster commute to office goers to and from the eastern suburbs, Thane and Navi Mumbai, who currently have to crawl through the congested Sion-dharavi link road.

The MMRDA also needs clear ances from the Railways and Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) as the road passes over the Mithi River and central suburban railways tracks. “We will initiate the tendering proc ess after getting the administra tive approval. We will start the process of getting clearances,” said MMRDA additional commis sioner Ashwini Bhide.

The MMRDA has set a three year deadline and Rs300 crore budget for the project.