Illegal to legal may be a penalty away in Maharashtra
Build an illegal structure, shell out heavy penalty, and get it regularised.
By Abhiram Ghadyalpatil, TNN |
NAGPUR: Build an illegal structure, shell out heavy penalty, and get it regularised. This is the prescription the Maharashtra government has sought to offer for all illegal constructions - residential as well as commercial - in all urban conglomerates in the state. A bill proposing to levy double property tax on unauthorised constructions has been introduced in the legislature by the urban development ministry.
The recommendation to impose double property tax - in effect, three times the amount a structure has to pay as regular property tax - is part of a report submitted by the Kakodkar committee. It was appointed by the state government to suggest remedial measures to check the rampant growth of unauthorised constructions in the urban parts of the state.
The bill seeks to amend Acts governing all 22 municipal corporations in the state. Veteran CPM legislator from Solapur, Narsayya Adam, however, has strongly opposed the bill. “It is regularisation of illegal structures in some other form. The bill encourages illegal structures and the argument of raising the property tax receipts of municipal corporations is being forwarded as an added advantage. Isn’t there any legal means of increasing civic revenue?” Mr Adam asked.
An urban development official defended the proposal claiming that it was by no means regularisation of illegal structures. “Payment of double property tax as penalty will by no means make that structure legal. It will continue to be an illegal structure so long as it does not get legally regularised. The proposal to impose penalty is aimed at checking the future growth of illegal constructions,” the official explained.
“The move will effectively encourage construction in violation of laws. Just as there is no incentive for following the law, there should not be any monetary disincentive for not following the law. By definition, an illegal structure is a violation of laws that govern the structures in civic limits. But by proposing to levy double property tax, the government is treating an illegal structure on par with a legal one,” is how a senior bureaucrat saw it, who opposed the move when it was mooted.
Well-informed sources, however, point to the recent controversies involving illegal structures in some urban centres of the state where the government bowed to populist and political pressure and regularised illegalities.
“This happened in Ulhasnagar first and then, in Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation. Thousands of illegal structures have been regularised by incorporating some or the other penalty in the laws. There is a very thin line between introducing a penalty and regularising a structure,” a source said.
Another official cited the example of sealing of illegal commercial establishments in Delhi when the Supreme Court had to direct the Delhi government to seal unauthorised structures. “If the owner of an illegal structure is allowed to heave a sigh of relief on payment of double property tax today, there would surely emerge a potential political constituency of such people which would exert political pressure for regularisation tomorrow,” the official cautioned.
The recommendation to impose double property tax - in effect, three times the amount a structure has to pay as regular property tax - is part of a report submitted by the Kakodkar committee. It was appointed by the state government to suggest remedial measures to check the rampant growth of unauthorised constructions in the urban parts of the state.
The bill seeks to amend Acts governing all 22 municipal corporations in the state. Veteran CPM legislator from Solapur, Narsayya Adam, however, has strongly opposed the bill. “It is regularisation of illegal structures in some other form. The bill encourages illegal structures and the argument of raising the property tax receipts of municipal corporations is being forwarded as an added advantage. Isn’t there any legal means of increasing civic revenue?” Mr Adam asked.
An urban development official defended the proposal claiming that it was by no means regularisation of illegal structures. “Payment of double property tax as penalty will by no means make that structure legal. It will continue to be an illegal structure so long as it does not get legally regularised. The proposal to impose penalty is aimed at checking the future growth of illegal constructions,” the official explained.
“The move will effectively encourage construction in violation of laws. Just as there is no incentive for following the law, there should not be any monetary disincentive for not following the law. By definition, an illegal structure is a violation of laws that govern the structures in civic limits. But by proposing to levy double property tax, the government is treating an illegal structure on par with a legal one,” is how a senior bureaucrat saw it, who opposed the move when it was mooted.
Well-informed sources, however, point to the recent controversies involving illegal structures in some urban centres of the state where the government bowed to populist and political pressure and regularised illegalities.
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“This happened in Ulhasnagar first and then, in Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation. Thousands of illegal structures have been regularised by incorporating some or the other penalty in the laws. There is a very thin line between introducing a penalty and regularising a structure,” a source said.
Another official cited the example of sealing of illegal commercial establishments in Delhi when the Supreme Court had to direct the Delhi government to seal unauthorised structures. “If the owner of an illegal structure is allowed to heave a sigh of relief on payment of double property tax today, there would surely emerge a potential political constituency of such people which would exert political pressure for regularisation tomorrow,” the official cautioned.
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