GHMC bill collector held with Rs 6 crore assets

Hyderabad: A GHMC bill collector who amassed assets of more than Rs 6 crore was arrested by the ACB on Friday. Raids were conducted at the houses owned by M. Narsimha Reddy in the city and at his native place in Siddipet district.

Madaka Narsimha Reddy is a bill collector in the taxation section of GHMC Circle IXB office in Abids. The ACB raided his houses in Sathavahana Nagar Kukatpally, Nagunur and Cheryal in Siddipet district. They seized a three storeyed house in HMT Sathavahana nagar, one storied houses in Kalyannagar and Balanagar, a two-storeyed house in Kukatpally, and seven open plots — three in Nizampet, two in Nangunur village and one each in KPHB and Kalyan Nagar.

The ACB also seized documents pertaining to 35 acres of farmland in Nangunur village and one acre of land at Cheryal, two kg gold ornaments worth around Rs 56 lakh, 3.7 kg of silver ware, two bikes, a car, two tractors, Rs 63,000 and insurance policies worth '34 lakh of which '10 lakh has already been paid. The ACB also found a bank balance of '16 lakh. The plot in Kukatpally is registered in Narsimha Reddy’s mother-in-law D. Venkatamma’s name and the seven acres of land in Nangunur is registered in the names of his brother-in-law Srinivas Reddy and his wife Rajitha.

Narsimha Reddy hails from Nangunur. He joined service in 1987 and in 2001 he was promoted as a bill collector. His two sons are doing postgraduate studies in USA, one daughter is doing MPharm and the youngest daughter is in Intermediate.

Bribes may be Rs 3-5 lakh a month
The maximum salary of a GHMC bill collector is Rs 30,000, but illegal earnings can go up to Rs 3-5 lakh per month. The job of a bill collector is to assess property value, fix the tax and collect trade license fee.

The ACB authorities say that there were complaints that bill collectors do not assess property as per area, but fix property tax by striking deals with the owner.

In case of commercial properties, the bill collector registers it as residential so that the tax is paid as per residential norms. The illegal earnings depend on division. The Abids bill collector caught by ACB on October 21 earned more from commercial buildings.

ACB DySP  V. Ravi Kumar said, "Bill collectors play a crucial role in fixing tax for both commercial and residential structures.  The tax varies from division to division. Most complaints say that bill collectors collude with the owner and register buildings as residential property even if it is commercial. Property tax of residential buildings is less and a cut goes into the pocket of the collectors. They also earn money through illegal registration and illegal buildings. Many collect tax but pay less to the department".

The ACB had been receiving complaints against bill collector M. Narsimha Reddy since six months.  In August 2016, the TS  ACB arrested a GHMC bill collector for accepting bribe. The ACB  caught C. Satish, red handed when he was accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from a complainant.