Guj House passes amended Bombay Provincial Municipal Corpn bill

Gandhinagar, Feb 22 (UNI) The Gujarat Legislative Assembly today passed the controversial Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations (Gujarat Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2007.

The amended bill was introduced in the House by Gujarat Urban Development Minister I K Jadeja to empower the civic bodies, including the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, to levy House (Property) Tax on the carpet area of the property with retrospective effect from year 1999.

Addressing the House, Mr Jadeja said the new amended bill will replace the old property tax evaluation which was based on market value. Mr Jadeja said that with the passage of the bill, the civic bodies will be able to generate funds for providing better water and sewerage facilities to the citizens.

Leader of Opposition Arjun Modhvadia, while expressing opposition to the bill, said the government wished to implement the amendment with retrospective effect to shy away from refunding over Rs 700 crore to the citizens. The refund should have been made by the State Urban Department because a Vadodara court had held that once the house tax is evaluated on the carpet area, other taxes like water, sewerage and others, are void.

UNI