2 weeks Ago By Express News Service
BENGALURU: Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and his wife Tabassum have approached the Karnataka High Court, questioning a demand notice issued by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in 2022 levying various cess on them for building a commercial complex in the city. Justice Ashok S Kinagi issued a notice to the state government and BBMP after hearing the petition filed by the couple who prayed the court to declare the entire Karnataka Municipal Corporations and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Act, 2021, notified on January 13, 2022 as ultra vires the Constitution as far as they are concerned. Rao and Tabassum own a 608.
21 square metre property in RT Nagar in the city. They had applied for a sanction plan to construct a commercial building on the property. The BBMP issued them a demand notice for Rs 41.
55 lakh and another Rs 3.46 lakh labour cess to issue the sanction plan. The couple contended that the Act under which the demand notice was issued ultra vires Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.
It also violates the right to freedom to carry on any trade, besides having the capricious effect of nullifying the very basis of a judgment passed by the high court in a case in 2020. They also claimed that levying alleged charges on the basis of market value is discriminatory and irrational..
