Of local body taxes and what we get in return for our money

We are all aware of income-tax and the GST and almost every Indian pays one tax or the other. But there are other local taxes that we pay from time to time for various reasons. The question is, do we get value for our money paid to the local bodies and authorities.
Let us examine the various taxes we pay, who collects these taxes and what are the responsibilities of the bodies collecting these taxes.

Let's start with the Regional Transport Office (RTO). The RTO collects fees for registration of vehicles, issuance of driving licences, and permits for taxis, autorickshaws and public and private transport vehicles. Besides, the RTO collects a tidy sum on the issuance of vanity numbers. In a year, each RTO collects lakhs of rupees by the way of the above charges. But do they perform the duties required of them?

A regional transport office, besides issuing driving licences, is required to monitor the behaviour of autorickshaw and taxi drivers and punish them for refusal to ply their vehicles; parking in public places thereby depriving the citizens of their right to park; and not wearing their uniform or badges.

Every car, truck, two- and three-wheeler is required by law to have standard security number plates, in English, for easy tracking, but we find all kinds of fancy number plates in all regional languages.

Next is our very popular and common local body - the municipal corporation of a city. While every citizen aspires to become a coporator, none of them even knows the responsibilities of a corporation.

Incidentally, The Twelfth Schedule to the Constitution lists the subjects that municipal corporations are responsible for, among other things, urban planning, including town planning, regulation of land-use and construction of buildings, planning for economic and social development.

Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes, public health, sanitation conservancy and solid waste management, fire services, urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of ecological aspects also feature in the list.

Though we pay crores of rupees in taxes, almost half of Pune has neither drinking water connections nor sewage lines. The garbage disposal system is one of the worst and one sees piles of garbage and rubbish lying all around the city. It is time that our local bodies rise to the occasion and improve the living standards of our cities and its citizens who pay for the services they deserve.

The writer is a lawyer based in Pune