BBMP to seize articles, attach bank accounts over pending property taxes

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has planned to raid properties and seize articles if the owners do not pay up property taxes dues.

The BBMP has planned to collect taxes over the next three days. The civic body also plans to recover tax dues from malls and commercial properties through attachment of bank accounts.

The BBMP has planned to raid property and seize articles if property tax dues are pending

The BBMP has given its officials a target of 12 weeks to reach the annual revenue collection targets. This year’s target is Rs 4,189 crore and so far, Rs 2,718 crore in property tax, accounting for 64.88 per cent, has been collected. For the last three years, the property tax collection has seen a steady increase.

Many malls in the city have long-pending tax arrears, including Mantri Square Mall (Rs 33 crore), GT World Mall (Rs 5.5 crore), Swagath Garuda Mall (Rs 96 crore), More Megastore (Rs 38 lakh), Bangalore Central (Rs 2.46 crore), Virginia Mall (Rs 12 crore), Hyper City Mall (Rs 48 lakh), Phoenix Market City (Rs 2 crore), VR Mall (Rs 7 crore), Vega City Mall (Rs 2 crore), Forum Mall (Rs 72 lakh), and Royal Meenakshi Mall (Rs 2 crore).

Tushar Giri Nath, BBMP Chief Commissioner.

“If the owners of properties do not pay property tax, then we will begin to seize movable assets and later attach bank accounts and so on. We have already discussed this in the meeting and informed all the zonal commissioners. Every alternate day, we will review the collection. We will focus on the amount they have to pay and then start to seize articles and documents. We won’t recover the dues until certain legal procedures are completed”, said BBMP Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath.