Mantri mall reopens, allowed to continue operations

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Friday morning unlocked the Mantri Mall in

Malleswaram following the directions from the Karnataka High Court to do so. On May 10, a team of of ficials from the BBMP made a forceful appearance at Mantri Mall, taking decisive action against the ongoing dispute of tax arrears.

According to sources, the Mantri group stated that it would pay Rs 20 crore to the BBMP on or before July 31 for property tax. Soon after the doors of Mantri Mall were locked, the authorities moved to civil court, which ordered the management to pay at least half of the property tax immediately to run the operations.

The BBMP claimed that Rs 41 crore was the pending property tax amount on Mantri Mall. However, the management of Mantri Mall moved to the high court, stating that the pending property tax is only Rs 18.5 crore, and they will settle the amount by the end of July.

They also claimed that a loss of Rs 7 crore has been incurred every day as more than 250 shops inside the mall are not operating. The jewelry stores inside the mall reportedly faced heavy losses as they could not do business during the Akshya Tritiya last week.