Date:13/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/13/stories/2006091302660500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Order against levy of borewell charges to continue

Staff Reporter

HIGH COURTROUND-UP

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court has continued an interim order it had given staying the levy of borewell charges on the Department of Posts, Karnataka.

The Department of Posts, through the Post Master General, had moved the court against a notification of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) levying arrears of Rs. 1.36 lakh, including borewell charges.

Challenging the levy, the Post Master General said the Department of Posts was a Union Government organisation and that the BWSSB, a State agency, did not have the power to levy charges on it.

Moreover, the BWSSB did not impose such a levy on the other State Government undertakings or organisations.

It said that on April 1, 1997, the BWSSB had issued a notification imposing levy on sanitation charges for premises not using BWSSB water connection.

Subsequently, it issued a notification to the Department of Posts asking it to pay Rs. 105 per month as borewell charges.

It later sent two letters to the department asking it to pay up the arrears.

Contesting the BWSSB stand, the Department of Posts said the BWSSB was not collecting any borewell charges from buildings belonging to the State Government.

When this was so, how could it collect charges from a Union Government undertaking?

It had asked the court to stay a March 21, 2006 order of the BWSSB asking the Department of Posts to pay up the arrears.

The court, in its interim order, continued the stay of the March 21 order it had given earlier.

Reserved

Justice B.S. Patil on Tuesday reserved orders on petitions by lawn tennis and table tennis players and swimmers questioning their exclusion from the State games organised by the Department of Public Instruction.

The State had said that students studying Central syllabus were not open to participate in the games and that only students coming under the State syllabus could participate.

Several students of Central schools had questioned their exclusion.

Disposed of

Justice B.S. Patil on Tuesday disposed of a petition by a resident of Sadashivanagar challenging a show-cause notice issued to him by the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) for violation of building norms.

BMP counsel Putte Gowda submitted to the court that the palike had discovered that the owner of the building was using it for commercial purposes though he had taken a licence to construct a residential building.

He contended that the resident had obtained permission from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for change of land use from domestic to commercial.

However, the building licence was only for domestic use and not for commercial purposes.

Justice Patil disposed of the petition after the BMP submitted that it would provide an opportunity to the petitioner to explain and pass orders as per the law.