Building violators Beware !

Mysuru:  Property owners, beware. If you have any violations in your buildings and if there are any differences between the Approved Plan and the Completion Report (CR), you will have to pay double the penalty. The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has already begun the process of levying fines for violations at all zones where the property identification surveys have been completed.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, MCC Commissioner K.H. Jagadeesha said that violators will not be spared and the civic body is aiming to boost its revenue. “Last September, the State Urban Development Department had asked all City Corporations and Municipalities to levy penalty on building (CR) violations and later it was decided to levy double the penalty,” he said.

The MCC can levy penalties under  Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976, Column 112 (C). “When the Urban Development Department notification was issued, we had sought clarification on the penalty and at that time, officials told us that penalty can be doubled,” he said.

For example, if a person is paying Rs. 1,000 as property tax for a particular property and if there are violations in the building, till now the MCC was levying a penalty of Rs. 1,000. So the tax amount and the penalty would come up to Rs. 2,000. Now since the MCC has got powers to double the penalty amount, it will levy Rs. 2,000 plus the property tax of Rs. 1,000, explained an official from the MCC.

There are over 1,97,500 properties in Mysuru that includes residential, commercial and revenue. And most of the revenue properties are illegal and are riddled with violations. “The MCC has completed a survey of 80 percent of the properties and have started collecting taxes and penalties for violation,” the Commissioner said.

All buildings that were sanctioned Plan Approval in 2002 are under scanner. “To levy fine, we will compare the Approved Plan of any building and compare it with the CR. We will then take into account the extent of violations and levy fine after physical verification,” Jagadeesha said.

Survey of properties is underway and out of the 65 wards, only 20 percent is left. The survey work has been carried out by the Respective Revenue Inspectors and Assistant Revenue Inspectors.

Even those owners who have properties without the CR have to pay double penalty if there are violations. If the actual tax computed is Rs. 1,000, till now a building without CR had to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000. Now since the penalty is doubled, the property owner has to pay Rs. 3,000.

But many property owners have questioned the MCC move to levy double penalty from property owners who do not have the CR for their properties. “The MCC has not been issuing CR since many years and how come it is now levying double penalty for non-possession of CR,” questioned a resident.

“Buildings in those layouts which were earlier part of MUDA and have been handed over to the MCC now do not have CR. How come the MCC is levying penalty for non-possession of  CR,” asked another resident. MCC officials said that a CR is issued only if the deviation in the building plan was up to 5 percent of the sanctioned plan.