Indian Express: Pune: Sunday,
June 02, 2013.
The Pune
Municipal Corporation has decided to probe the allegations against wife of
Deputy Municipal Commissioner Ramesh Shelar of evading property tax on 13
flats, allegedly “owned” by her. “We will inquire into the matter,” said
Municipal Commissioner Mahesh Pathak said on Saturday.
An RTI query
had revealed that PMC’s Tax Assessment and Collection Department had not assessed
the property tax of 13 flats in a building at Warje-Malwadi since 2003. Soon
after this query, a notice was served by the tax department, following which a
property tax of Rs 6.11 lakh was paid by Sharda Shelar, wife of PMC Deputy
Municipal Commissioner Ramesh Shelar, for the 13 flats and a parking lot that
was being used for commercial purpose.
RTI applicant
Vinayak Phadke alleged that all the 13 flats were owned by Sharda Shelar and
she evaded the tax since 2003 when she took possession of the flats. He also
alleged that she had illegally rented out space for two telecom companies.
Reacting to
the allegations, Pathak said, “We will conduct an inquiry. But, it should be
taken into consideration that if somebody pays the property tax it doesn’t mean
he or she is the owner of property. According to my information, Ramesh
Shelar’s wife is into real estate and these flats are owned by some other
persons, but used by her for commercial purposes. So the property tax was paid
by her. Also the property declaration of a government servant is a privileged
information that can be made public only if the official concerned agrees to it
or in case of an inquiry. The fact that Shelar agreed to make this information
public shows he has nothing to hide. Though an official’s wife is an
independent entity, we will probe the allegations.”
Phadke said
the PMC approved the construction plan of the Saraswati Apartment in 1999 and
construction was completed in 2002. Since 2003, the building is being used as a
commercial property by Sharada Shelar, with all 13 flats being rented out to
different tenants. “I filed an RTI petition with PMC, requesting information
about the flats’ ownership and whether property tax was paid by the owners of
these flats. I got a reply on April 26, 2013, stating that tax assessment was
not done for these flats and a notice had been issued. On May 5, a tax of Rs
6.11 lakh was paid by Sharda Shelar to PMC,” said Phadke. “However, in his
property declaration, Shelar has shown that he and his wife only own one flat
each in the Saraswati building. He hid the fact about his wife owning the 13
flats from the authorities,” said Phadke.
Denying any
wrongdoing, Ramesh Shelar said he and his wife own only two flats in the
building, one belonging to each. The rest belonged to “relatives”, but they
were being commercially used by Sharada as per an agreement. “My wife is an
entrepreneur. She has been using the flats since 2007. She had applied for
property tax assessment. But PMC authorities didn’t respond. In May 2013 when
we got a notice from tax collection department, she paid the tax for all 13
flats, including the two owned by us.” He also said that as the remaining 11
flats were not owned by him or his wife, the question of mentioning them in the
declaration did not arise.
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