WB Municipal Corporation Bill passed

Kolkata: The West Bengal Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2017 has been passed in the Assembly on Wednesday empowering the state government to appoint the officers of the corporation to extend the term of their office without consultation with the Mayor-in-council to avoid any delay that is caused for administrative reasons.

The new Bill will allow officers to initiate or perform various development schemes up to a certain cost without consulting the Mayor-in-council. This will check unnecessary delay in the completion of particular projects. The Bill also prohibits the throwing of plastic of prescribed size and thickness in the drains as it is often found that plastic substances block the drainage system at various municipal areas. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (Second Amendment) Bill, 2017 was also passed in the Assembly for the extension of the time limit of submission of Self Assessment forms and extension of benefit of exemption of property tax to an extent to certain classes of people, which include senior citizens, widows, deserted women and physically challenged people.

Following the launching of the Unit Area Assessment by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, it has been found that a large section of the property tax payers could not submit Self Assessment form within stipulated time as they did not understand how to do it.