Tidel Park Coimbatore Limited (TPCL) paid a part of property tax dues pending with the city corporation to the tune of Rs 1.64 crore on Wednesday, after it was featured in the list of top defaulters brought to public domain by a city-based activist.
RTI activist S P Thiyagarajan had published the list of defaulters who have pending dues above Rs 1 crore. He urged the Coimbatore corporation to collect the dues with an iron hand since the civic body has been reeling under a financial crunch, forcing it to abandon projects to improve public amenities.
Following the development, corporation commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara instructed revenue officials to issue notices to the defaulting companies and institutions.
Subsequently, TPCL, which has a total of Rs 4.92 crore pending as on September 24, paid Rs 1.64 crore for the first and second half of 2019-2020 financial year.
Although several defaulters featured in the top defaulters list have approached courts, the civic body failed to collect pending dues even after the court cases concluded in its favour, Thiyagarajan said. “As of September 24, a total of Rs 42.30 crore is pending from top 17 defaulters. Many of them have moved court seeking exemption. While a case ended in favour of the assessee, four cases ended in favour of the corporation. Three assesses have to pay Rs 4.18 crore to the corporation. I request the civic body to check the status of the cases and expedite the process,” he added.