Thane: Tax dodgers brazenly unlock sealed shops

Bhayandar: Acting tough against stubborn defaulters, the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has intensified its recovery drive by initiating harsh measures including attachment of properties. However, thanks to the blind eye turned by a section of ward officials and tax inspectors, some of the defaulters continue to cock-a-snook at the corporation with brazen defiance.

This came to light when some of the shops in the Patadia Complex sealed by the recovery wing of the tax department due to non-payment of dues to arrears were illegally unlocked and occupied in an unlawful manner by the owners.

Interestingly, it was the alert citizens residing in the area who exposed the anomalies, even as the ward officials were deep in slumber. Whereas it is the duty of concerned officials to register an offence under section 353 of the IPC against the illegal occupiers.

“I have directed the concerned officials to file FIR’s against those who have illegally unlocked the seals. Process was on to assess the exact value of the sealed properties to be floated for auction,” said, assistant civic chief Swati Deshpande. It is feared that many sealed properties might have been unlocked and used in a similar fashion.

The MBMC had put up around 50 sealed properties of tax defaulters for auction in April this year. There were no takers for these properties.

Though the officials have been sealing properties of tax defaulters in the past, it had never auctioned them.