Illegal commercial use of residences under scanner in Pune – ET RealEstate

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PUNE: The civic body has decided to team up with the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) to detect the illegal use of residential properties for commercial purposes.

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has sought the details of commercial electric meters installed across civic limits from the state power board.

“In the drive, we will target residential properties which are being used for commercial purposes but paying the tax at residential rates. The property owners will be charged a penalty as per the law, along with additional tax,” said Ajit Deshmukh, head of PMC’s property tax department.

As per PMC officials, the civic body carried out a drive in Dhayari this week and penalized properties which were being used for packaging, engineering works, food joints and other activities.

“A few violators had to shell out three times the property tax. We collected an additional tax of Rs50 lakh from these establishments,” a civic official said.

The PMC had appealed to the occupants of the properties for voluntary declaration of commercial use of residential properties.

“The civic body has appealed to the people violating the rules for voluntary declaration, but only a few have come forward,” the official said.

PMC has also planned to charge additional property tax from the occupants and owners of wadas and other properties, which have been converted into food joints.

A circular regarding the same was issued by PMC commissioner Vikram Kumar. “Many illegal food joints operate out of residential properties. The owners have not taken any consent from the building permission department for the change of use. The users will have to pay three times the property charges as per the legal provisions,” the circular read.

PMC officials said the change of use for other commercial establishments such as beauty parlours, clinics, offices or tailoring shops is also under scanner.

“As per estimates, nearly 80,000 to 1 lakh properties are on the radar for such change in the civic limits, including the 34 merged villages,” a civic official said.