Cuttack: A division-bench of the Orissa High Court in Cuttack restrained the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) from collecting holding tax at an enhanced rate on the basis of the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, 2003 till an amendment is made therein.
The division-bench comprised of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Bibhu Prasad Routray.
The Act under reference must accordingly be amended with adequate quorum in the State Legislative Assembly in order to accord the BMC for the purpose as mentioned, the division-bench ordered.
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However, the civic body has been collecting enhanced holding tax based on rules as envisaged in the Orissa Municipal Act, 1950. The Orissa Municipal Corporation Act cannot be treated necessarily as a transition of the Orissa Municipal Act, the court clarified.
After enactment of the Orissa Municipal Corporation Act, the BMC must not enhance the holding tax as per the previous Act which is not in force. It is somewhat unreasonable, the court further stated.
The basic purpose of the outdated Act was to safeguard the power of the BMC in collecting taxes from different payers, it emphasised.
On being contacted, BMC Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Srimanta Mishra said, “The High Court has given orders with regard to a case of a private hospital. Presently, the BMC has been collecting holding tax at old rates. The civic body will take subsequent steps after obtaining a copy of the court’s order hopefully on Monday.”
A petition in this regard was earlier filed by Kalyani Maternity Hospital (P) Ltd in 2012, a hearing of which was conducted recently.
PNN