Thiruvananthapuram : The City Corporation has pulled up the state and centre establishments in the state capital for non-payment of tax for the staff quarter facilities provided by them. According to the revenue wing under the civic body, there are over 2000 staff quarters belonging to the state and the Centre in its jurisdiction. Police quarters at Palayam, the staff quarters at Thirumala, KWA quarters at Vellayambalam and SAP camp are some of the tax defaulters.
A top official of the revenue wing said that many new staff quarters have been constructed without getting permission from the civic body. "We are unaware of many of the constructions. We have served demand notice to the authorities concerned and have given them the option for the one-time settlement to avoid a penalty," said the official.
Police Department, Kerala Water Authority, SAP (Special Armed Force) camp, Public Works Department are some of the defaulters in the list. Mayor V K Prasanth said that the civic body was able to collect 18 percent more tax this year compared to previous years. This financial year the own fund collection of the civic body has gone up to Rs 125.05 crores while it was just Rs 81.07 crores in 2015. Mayor said that effective collection of tax is the reason for the rise in the own fund.
"As per rules we can't collect tax from Centre government establishments but they should pay us service charge. We have served demand notice to them," said the Mayor.
A revenue official said that they are in the processing of consolidating the tax owed by the Police Department.
