50cr revenue scam unearthed in Indore Municipal Corporation

The Times of India: Indore: Monday, 29 June 2015.

A fresh trouble is brewing in Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC), already dented after conviction of mayor-in-council (MiC) member and BJP corporator Suraj Kero in a decade-old corruption case, with irregularities surfacing in revenue collections in collusion with civic officials. An RTI query has exposed a scam in revenue collection by certain zonal offices of IMC which caused a loss of around Rs 50 crore to the exchequer in last few years.

Documents procured through RTI filed by Rajendra K Gupta exposed irregularities in revenue collection at four zonal offices of IMC including Vijay Nagar (zone-8), Pancham Ki Phel (zone-9), Saket zone (zone-10) and Stadium zone (zone-11).

"It was found revenue officials were collecting money in the name of different taxes from residents at these zonal offices but the money was not deposited to corporation account," said Gupta, adding, irregularities were also found in transfer of property tax account from gram panchayat to municipal corporation.

After merger of 29 villages in municipal corporation limits all properties in these villages had to transfer their property tax account to IMC after paying fee of Rs 600. "It was found transfer fee of around 5,000 properties in Vijay Nagar zone alone was not deposited with corporation account," said Gupta, adding, most people were not given receipt of payment and officials siphoned off the money.

Following the expose IMC has constituted an inquiry committee to probe the matter and are planning to carry out audit of zonal offices in question. "We are investigating the matter," said a senior civic official.

"Today I recorded my statement and provided documents to the investigation team of IMC," said Gupta alleging, zonal offices in question had made entry of revenue collection in record books with pencil and now zonal officials are overwriting it and removing pages from record books.

Gupta, who had also exposed irregularities in transportation expenses of IMC, said documents have also exposed that in many cases revenue officials have undervalued the property and reduced the size of property to levy less tax.