Bengaluru
The Karnataka high court on Thursday issued a directive to the Bengaluru municipal corporation, known as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), ordering it to transfer the outstanding dues of Rs 55.65 crore, collected from taxpayers as beggary cess, to the Central Relief Committee (CRC) within four months. Initially, the BBMP had requested a six-month timeline to settle these dues, citing that they had utilized the funds for other municipal purposes. Over the years, the BBMP had amassed a total of Rs 600 crore in beggary cess from 2008-09 to 2022. The high court’s decision came as a result of a public interest litigation focused on the issue of children being coerced into selling trinkets at traffic signals. In response to the court’s order, the BBMP submitted an affidavit through its chief accountant, Raju S K. The affidavit acknowledged the outstanding amount of Rs 55.65 crore to be paid to the CRC and requested an extended period of six months to settle the dues in three installments. The BBMP argued that making a lump-sum payment would strain the corporation’s finances and disrupt other high-priority projects requiring funding. However, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit rejected this argument, stating that the BBMP cannot divert specific funds to address its financial constraints. Nevertheless, considering the BBMP’s deposit of Rs 20 crore as a positive response, the High Court granted a reasonable extension but specified that the dues must be cleared within four months without any further extensions. The court emphasized that no additional time extensions would be granted and scheduled a compliance report review after the four-month period.
