The power board has not been paying taxes to PMC for the past 31 years, a civic body official alleged. The Corporation had slapped a notice on the board about two months ago. But there has been no response from the board as yet, the sources added.

The BSEB is followed by Patna University, A N College, Hotel Chanakya, Samrat International Hotel, Parijat Complex, Abhaya Bhavan and other government buildings in old Patna.

The civic body is set to take action against big holding tax defaulters and may even snap services to them.

Officials in Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) said a list of defaulters had been prepared and the Corporation was initiating action against them under PMC Act, 1951. The officials added that final notices to the defaulters were also being issued.

Most of tax defaulters are in the New Capital Circle of PMC. They owe over Rs 360 crore to the Corporation as outstanding holding taxes.

According to Sheshank Shekhar Sinha, executive officer of New Capital Circle, the PMC has been serving notices to the tax defaulters, but to no avail. It will now initiate action under Sections 204, 205 and 206 of the PMC Act, 1951 which empowers it to stop providing civic services to the defaulters.

PMC has also written a letter to the urban development department asking it to expedite notification of rules of Bihar Municipal Act, 2007, so that property of the tax defaulters could be attached.

The official also said the recent amendment to Bihar Municipal Act, 2007, empowers the civic body to attach the property and seize bank accounts of defaulters if they do not pay civic taxes. The law department, however, is yet to clear the provision.

As per the PMC norms, holding tax rate is Rs 54 per sqft for commercial establishments on main roads and Rs 18 per sqft on main roads for residential buildings.
At present, there are about 1.2 lakh tax defaulters in the city while the number of holdings falling under the Corporation area stands at 1.8 lakh.

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