‘Case to be lodged under OPDR Act against big defaulters, not individual house owners’

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) today clarified no individual house owner will face action under the Odisha Public Demands Recovery Act (OPDR Act), 1962 amid media reports of action against house owners the BMC area failing to pay holding tax.

Deputy Commissioner, Revenue of BMC, Srimanta Mishra said the municipal corporation lodges the certificate course against willing big defaulters under the OPDR Act. Action against individual house owners under the Act is very rare.

Business establishments and institutions in the city who have failed to pay holding tax for three years or above come under the big defaulter category and the certificate case is lodged against them. This is a routine affair, informed Mishra.

Like every year, Zonal Deputy Commissioners of the municipal corporation have been directed to identify the big defaulters and lodge the case, he stated.

The BMC Deputy Commissioner further said, “The certificate case takes one year or above to be materialized. If the defaulter pays the dues in the meantime, the establishment will not be sealed.”

Worth mentioning, some sections of media reported the BMC has directed all Zonal Deputy Commissioners to lodge certificate case under the OPDR Act against building owners who defaulted in paying holding tax.