The news of Minister S.A.Ramdas instructing MCC to maintain the old water rates and not implement the 3- to 5-fold hike has been welcomed by many, but this is not the legal way of rescinding a rate hike. The hike was also probably illegal and so two illegalities may cancel each other!
MCC seems to have a habit of illegally imposing taxes and hiking existing taxes. The last time it hiked the water rates in 2005, the High Court quashed it as illegal on 25-10-05 (in Writ Petition No. 19047 of 2005). Many of the cesses and taxes it collects along with the property tax are illegal. In spite of having a legal department, it is surprising that MCC can not get things right legally.
There seems to be no rationale for increasing the water tariff. In the field of electricity, the law says that the electric supply company can make a profit equal to the government interest rate. So an ESCOM can add all its expenditures, add the interest rate and this will be the revenue it will have to generate. The power rates are adjusted to achieve this goal. But VVWW does not know or does not want to publish its expenditures. Systemic inefficiencies like losses due to water leakage and pilferage (estimated at upwards of 50%), inefficient electric motors that raise electricity bills for pumping water, or failure to collect water dues from defaulting consumers while continuing to supply water to them over months and years, have not been addressed.
According to statistics revealed by the minister, there are 175,000 water connections in the city, but only 116,000 connections are being billed. So 59,000 (33%) connections are getting water without paying. Even among the connections that are billed, a significant percentage do not pay. According to information given under the RTI Act, there are more than 40,000 water bill defaulters who owe Rs. 57.58 crores to VVWW. The authorities, instead of punishing the guilty, keep announcing interest waivers to the defaulters, but the dues keep climbing. The minority of honest tax payers are burdened with an ever-increasing load of taxes and tariffs.
VVWW and MCC should place a detailed accurate analysis of the economics of Mysore's water supply in the public domain, and raise water tariff only if absolutely unavoidable, but after due administrative and legal process.
Maj.Gen.(Rtd.) S.G. Vombatkere, Mysore Grahakara Parishat
MCC seems to have a habit of illegally imposing taxes and hiking existing taxes. The last time it hiked the water rates in 2005, the High Court quashed it as illegal on 25-10-05 (in Writ Petition No. 19047 of 2005). Many of the cesses and taxes it collects along with the property tax are illegal. In spite of having a legal department, it is surprising that MCC can not get things right legally.
There seems to be no rationale for increasing the water tariff. In the field of electricity, the law says that the electric supply company can make a profit equal to the government interest rate. So an ESCOM can add all its expenditures, add the interest rate and this will be the revenue it will have to generate. The power rates are adjusted to achieve this goal. But VVWW does not know or does not want to publish its expenditures. Systemic inefficiencies like losses due to water leakage and pilferage (estimated at upwards of 50%), inefficient electric motors that raise electricity bills for pumping water, or failure to collect water dues from defaulting consumers while continuing to supply water to them over months and years, have not been addressed.
According to statistics revealed by the minister, there are 175,000 water connections in the city, but only 116,000 connections are being billed. So 59,000 (33%) connections are getting water without paying. Even among the connections that are billed, a significant percentage do not pay. According to information given under the RTI Act, there are more than 40,000 water bill defaulters who owe Rs. 57.58 crores to VVWW. The authorities, instead of punishing the guilty, keep announcing interest waivers to the defaulters, but the dues keep climbing. The minority of honest tax payers are burdened with an ever-increasing load of taxes and tariffs.
VVWW and MCC should place a detailed accurate analysis of the economics of Mysore's water supply in the public domain, and raise water tariff only if absolutely unavoidable, but after due administrative and legal process.
Maj.Gen.(Rtd.) S.G. Vombatkere, Mysore Grahakara Parishat