The Quepem Municipal Council (QMC) has resolved to waive off rent arrears of a local school at the council meeting held on Monday.
According to chairperson Filu D’Costa, the resolution was passed earlier on two occasions and was sent to Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) for approval. However, the DMA had approved the same but due to some technical reasons it could not be implemented.
“This is the third time the resolution was passed to waive off the rent to a local school, which is housed in the municipal building situated in the main market, and the same will be sent again to the DMA for approval,” informed D’Costa.
Speaking to Herald, Councillor, Amol Kanekar said, he along with another councillor Manuel Colasso had opposed the resolution and demanded that a special meeting be convened to discuss the issue of rent and taxes.
“The resolutions, which were passed during the last term of the council to waive off the rent arrears, the amount was not mentioned and even I supported it but later I came to know that amount was Rs 93 lakh and therefore I decided to oppose it,” Kanekar said adding that he has demanded to waive off only the interest arrears and not the principle amount.
Councillor Dayesh Naik said the school is a government-aided school and actually it has not defaulted in paying the rent.
“The school is paying the regular rent, which was fixed by the earlier council. In 2007, the council increased the rent without the PWD inspecting the premises. As per rules, PWD must fix the rent after measuring the area, which was not done in this case and therefore the amount of difference between actual rent and increased rent remained as arrears,” Naik added.
He also said that educational institutions are involved only in academic activities and not in commercial activities and therefore it is not feasible to imposed commercial tax on them.
Countering the argument, Manuel Colasso said that the council had increased the rent of the shops housed in the municipality buildings and decided to increase the rent for the school.
“All the lessees including school management approached the court against the council decision but the judgement was in favour of the council and therefore the school must pay the increased rent and it cannot be waived off,” Colasso said.
Colasso informed that they have demanded a white paper on the school arrears but without paying heed to our request, they passed the resolution.
In another resolution, the council decided to allot premises in the municipal building to Directorate of Art and Culture to start Nagar Library.
“The decision was taken in the interest of the locals as they will get an opportunity to refer/read various books including those which cost around Rs 5-6 lakh,” D’Costa said.
