Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation serves notice to Asaram Ashram

Asaram Ashram it seems is being again courted by controversy. After the case of encroachment on government land in Motera, this time it is the revenue department of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation which has slapped a notice on the ashram for non payment of property tax. 

Mayur Dave, chairman of revenue committee of AMC said that the Asaram Ashram at Motera owes around Rs3.5 lakh towards property tax to the civic body. The notice has asked the ashram authorities to pay the tax within seven days.

The Asaram Ashram has not paid tax for two years. The revenue department of the AMC also served notice to the Harijan Ashram Trust for recovery of property tax from the prestigious institute.

It should be noted that the Sabarmati Ashram and Sardar Patel Memorial have been excluded from property tax. However, the tax is due on other properties such as schools and servant's quarters owned by the Harijan Ashram Trust. "The trust has not paid Rs5 lakh by way of property tax on various properties owned by it," said Dave.

He also said that the trust has not paid tax since 2001-02.  Moreover, the civic body has recovered Rs342 crore as property tax.

The west zone leads the list with recovery of around Rs106.67 crore towards property tax, while the east zone is at the bottom with a recovery of only Rs28.77 crore. Moreover, 1935 cheques amounting to Rs2.64 crore paid towards property tax by various assesses have bounced.

It should be noted that the municipal commissioner had earlier taken the department's officials to task for low recovery of tax. Rs3.5 lakh to be recovered in property tax