Coimbatore: There has been an allegation that the Coimbatore Corporation is collecting additional property tax in violation of the ICourt order.
There are 5.43 lakh tax payers in the Coimbatore Corporation. According to the order of the Tamil Nadu government, the property tax has been increased from last April 2022. Against this, 28 taxpayers filed a case in the Chennai High Court. The judges who heard the case gave their verdict in December last year. Complaints have been raised that property tax has been raised and collected in defiance of this judgment.
In this regard, in a letter written to the Corporation Commissioner on behalf of the Coimbatore Consumer Gas Organization, it has been stated that:
The court order said, ‘Property tax increase is valid. For ‘Writ’ petitioners, the tax hike will be applicable from FY 2023-24 onwards. For others, the property tax hike will be applicable from Oct. 1, 2022. That is, it will be applicable from the second half of the financial year 2022-23. That is, ‘The first half-yearly property tax should be paid by April 15th and the second half-yearly property tax by October 15th.
In May itself, the resolution regarding the property tax amendment was approved and published in the official gazette.
By this time the last date for the first semester has passed. Hence, property tax hike cannot be retrospective. Revising the property tax for the first half-year is incorrect; Illegal. Not erroneous; Absurd’, the ICourt judgment clarified.
However, in the Coimbatore Corporation, increased property tax is being collected from April 1, 2022. This is against the judgment of the Court. For the first half of the year 2022-23 (April to September), the old tax will be charged and for the second half (October to March 2023), the revised tax will be charged. The additional amount collected should be fixed in the first half of the financial year 2023-24.
This is stated in the letter.
Kathirmadion said, “The property tax hike resolution was passed in May. The judgment was delivered in December in the iCourt. It is not appropriate to post-date the May resolution and then post-date the April 1 property tax. This has been pointed out by the Court. The property tax hike should come into effect from the second half of 2022.
“If not, we are going to go to court again legally,” he said.
In this regard, when asked to Corporation Commissioner Pratap, he said, “We have implemented the increase in property tax as per the decree. I have not seen the letter sent by Coimbatore Consumer Gas. I will inquire and tell you,” he said.
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