9 Bills that cleared Karnataka assembly hurdle

NT Correspondent

Belagavi

As many as nine Bills were passed by the Karnataka Assembly at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi on Monday. Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar tabled the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Certain Other Law (Amendment) Bill. “We had given a deadline of November 30 to pay tax arrears through the One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme. About Rs 1,200 crore has been collected through this scheme till now from about three lakh properties and tax from 2.26 lakh properties is due,” Shivakumar said.

“Property tax collections till November 30, 2024, are valued at Rs 4,284 crore. We have already issued an Ordinance regarding this. The second amendment for the year 2024 needs to be passed by the Assembly,” he added. BJP MLA from Malleshwaram CN Ashwath Narayan commended Shivakumar for bringing undeclared people into the tax net. “However, don’t increase the tax burden on the people in the future.

Don’t try to run the BBMP just from the property tax collections. Bengaluru contributes 65 per cent of the revenues to the state and there is a need to increase grants for the city,” he said. Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil tabled the Karnataka (Mineral Rights and Mineral Bearing Land) Tax Bill, which was passed.

Protection from Ponzi schemes: Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda presented the Karnataka Financial Institutions Protection of the Interests of Depositors (Amendment) Bill. The minister said the proposed law would protect depositors from Ponzi and pyramid schemes. The Revenue Minister also tabled the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, which was passed.

He informed the House that 80,000 litigations were pending in the court and Rs 15,000 crore was due in taxes. He said instead of expending money on lawyers, the State could push through an OTS, which would save the exchequer money.

Ropeways to boost tourism: HK Patil also introduced the Karnataka Tourism Ropeways Bill. Byre Gowda tabled the Basavana Bagewadi Development Authority Bill, which was cleared with little discussion as were the Chanakya University (Amendment) Bill and the Adikavi Maharishi Valmiki Bill which renames Raichur University and all Scheduled Tribe (ST) hostels after the author of the Ramayana. Lastly, the Karnataka Groundwater Regulations and Control of Development and Management (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Asssembly.