Sir,

I own a house in Vijayanagar 3rd Stage and have been diligently paying house tax for the past 19 years.

Last year, when I went to pay the house tax during the first week of April to avail the 5 percent discount (as it was announced by the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) that it will provide 5 percent rebate) the staff refused to accept the money. In turn, they informed me that the Housing and Urban Development Ministry had written to the MCC that Vijayanagar 3rd Stage does not come under Corporation limits and house tax should not be accepted from residents. The same official communication was also displayed on the notice board.

Curiously enough, I have been paying the house tax for the past 19 years! I was visiting the MCC office near Akashavani Circle every alternate month to pay my house tax and was always told that they cannot accept the payment because of the communication by the Housing and Urban Development Ministry.

Recently, a friend of mine told me that from January 2018, the MCC has started accepting house tax from the residents of Vijayanagar 3rd Stage and I promptly sent my driver to make the payment. The MCC staff, while accepting the payment, levied a penalty of Rs. 606 towards delay in payment!

When questioned, the staff told my driver that they were following the instructions of the MCC Commissioner. I fail to understand the logic behind the MCC levying penalty for late payment when they themselves had displayed on their notice board that they will not be accepting the house tax from Vijayanagar 3rd Stage residents due to a Government circular.

Are the MCC authorities thinking that they can ride roughshod over the residents and levy penalty in a whimsical manner? Are there no rules and regulations in MCC?

As an honest tax-paying citizen, I expect a convincing answer from the MCC. The Deputy Commissioner must immediately intervene in this issue.

– K.C. Biddappa, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITC Ltd., Mysuru, 18.1.2018

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