MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Madurai Corporation Commissioner to form special teams to verify the accuracy of property tax assessments made in respect of all immovable properties in Madurai city limits.
A bench of justices S M Subramaniam and G Arul Murugan gave the direction on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by an AIADMK councillor of the 83rd Ward of the civic body, T Ravi, seeking CBI investigation into the alleged Rs 200-crore scam in which bribes are said to have been taken to lower the valuation of properties.
During the hearing on Tuesday, additional public prosecutor T Senthil Kumar submitted that as of August 9, 15 persons including an assistant commissioner and assistant revenue officer have been arrested.
The special investigation team of police personnel is in the process of obtaining data from the director of municipal administration about the valuation of the immovable properties in Madurai city corporation limits and the investigation is being done in all angles.
Since the petitioner submitted that the undervaluation of buildings for assessing the property tax also needs to be addressed while investigating the above scam, the judges directed the corporation commissioner to constitute special teams to verify the accuracy of the property tax assessments made by the staff and officials of Madurai Corporation and thereafter take appropriate action to ensure that correct assessment of property tax is made in respect of every immovable property in Madurai city limits in accordance with the relevant legal provisions.
Additional Advocate General Veera Kathiravan said he will get necessary instructions from the commissioner, form the required number of teams and submit a report to the court in the next hearing on Wednesday (August 20).