Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation tax chief ousted over graft charges

Yuvraj Badane

Corruption charges regarding property tax collection have led to the ouster of Yuvraj Badane, assistant municipal commissioner in the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC), as the head of the tax collection department. UMC chief Rajendra Nimbalkar on Monday took away the charge from Badane, who will now only look after the public relations department.

"We gave the charge to some other person. It was due to some administrative issue," Nimbalkar told mid-day. The controversy emerged earlier this month, when it was found that an employee of the tax collection department had collected a mere Rs 10 lakh in property tax from a wine shop - which owed Rs 70 lakh - by showing the area of the store much lesser than its actual expanse.

Discrepancy in tax
The store is Bhagwati Wines, located in Shriram Chowk, which occupies an area of around 8,000 sq metres. mid-day reported about the same in the August 9 story ‘UMC has a Brutus in its midst'.

However, those in charge of collecting tax showed the area as a mere 400 sq metres. When Badane was heading the department, he'd visited the shop and put up a notice asking the owner to pay R70 lakh in dues after seeing that
it was a ground plus two-storey building.

The discrepancy occurred while Badane was on leave and tax inspector DL Magar was tasked with recovering the amount. Magar allegedly forged documents to show only Rs 10 lakh in tax. When Badane returned, he initiated an inquiry and asked for an explanation. Magar claimed he'd been pressured by UMC employee Dada Patil and RPI corporator Bhagwan Bhalerao to do the billing in that manner.

Corporator chatter
Later, the commissioner initiated an inquiry against tax department employees and Bhalerao. Senior politicians and corporators were discussing how to raise the issue during the general body meeting. "Corporators were going to raise question about Badane, who they allege is also corrupt. There is not a single property tax collection case in which employees have not misused their power. They were going to demand an inquiry and ask for his suspension," said sources. But, Nimbalkar went one step further and took away Badane's charge, assigning the job to another official instead.

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