MCC has introduced a new tax on vacant sites from this year. It is being charged at the rate of Rs. 0.50 per sq.ft. and is supposed to go towards keeping the sites free from garbage and weeds. But it appears that such a tax is illegal.
Before 2003, whenever MCC wanted to levy a new tax, it had to pass a resolution to that effect at MCC general meeting, publish the resolution in the official Gazette, obtain objections to the new tax from the public and submit both the resolution and the objections to the State government. The State government had the power to sanction, modify or impose conditions on the resolution. It would then publish its decision in the official Gazette and the tax approved by the State government would be legally in force.
But in 2003, the State government amended the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act. One of the stated objectives of the Act was to give Corporations more power and "to dispense with the sanction of the Government before imposing tax". So Sec. 105 of the Act which gave the State givernment power to change Corporation resolutions was deleted. MCC could now impose any tax they wanted without State government interference.
But while deleting Sec. 105 of the Act, the government also removed Sec. 104 of the Act, which defined how Corporation could levy a new tax. It is not clear if this deletion was intentional or accidental, but the upshot of the removal of Sec. 104 is that now MCC has no legal foundation to levy any tax other than those covered explicitly by the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act. Pre-existing taxes and cesses such as property tax, water tax, advertisement tax, health cess, anti-beggary cess, education cess can continue. Solid waste management cess which was introduced last year is covered explicitly by Sec. 103B and seems to be legal. Sec. 103B also provides for infrastructure tax on vehicles and Sec. 103 provides for an additional stamp duty on property transfers. These taxes can also be legally imposed by MCC.
Since a site cleaning tax is not covered explicitly by the Act, its imposition by MCC seems illegal.
There are some things MCC can do legally to tackle the problem of neglected sites. If a residential site has garbage or weeds on it, MCC can issue a notice to the owner under Sec. 333 of the KMC Act to remove them within 24 hours. If the notice is ignored, it can fine him Rs. 50 under Schedule XI of the Act. If a commercial site has rubbish on it, MCC can issue a notice under Sec. 257 of the KMC Act and can charge him a periodic fee to clear the rubbish.