AAI property at Hubli airport seized

The Hubli Airport is in the news again, this time for the wrong reasons. The Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) authorities have seized the furniture at the airport to recover the property tax arrears.

The action has resulted in a rift between the HDMC and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

According to the HDMC, the airport owes HDMC property tax arrears to the tune of Rs 43 lakh dating back to 1993. A few years ago, the HDMC had issued a notice to the AAI threatening to seize its property if it failed to pay up. The AAI had paid Rs 4 lakh then.

On Saturday, the HDMC officers issued another notice to the airport authorities asking them to pay up the arrears within three hours and threatened to seize the property if the amount were not paid. When the payment did not come, the HDMC officials symbolically seized the furniture in the airport office.

The AAI officials alleged that this was an act of high-handedness. AAI sources said the state government had issued an order waiving the airport's property tax for a period of five years.

"The copies of the order have already been sent to the deputy commissioner and municipal commissioner. When this is the case, issuing the notice and then seizing the furniture is malicious," said AAI sources.

The airport controller has written to the principal secretary, to the chief minister, urban development secretary, district in-charge minister and also to the AAI higher-ups complaining of the "high handedness' of HDMC officials.

HDMC sources have a different version. The AAI owes the HDMC Rs 43 lakh for the period 1993-2007. The sources said the state government had waived the property tax for a period of five years.

"The waiver would amount to Rs 19 lakh. Of the total amount owed, the AAI has paid Rs 4 lakh. Even after deducting this amount, the airport owes HDMC Rs 20 lakh. We have initiated the recovery process for the Rs 20 lakh," the sources contended.

AAI sources claim that they need not pay tax for the period 1993 to 2000. Their argument is that the airport was in the name of AAI during that period. "The revenue records show that the land belonged to the HDMC. Why should the AAI pay for the property which did not belong to it?" the AAI asked.

The entire episode has not gone down well with the people in the region. They fear that such controversies will only tarnish the image of both the HDMC and AAI had proved to be a deterrent in the state government's efforts to upgrade the airport in a bid to make North Karnataka investor-friendly.

The AAI seems to have taken the issue seriously and is sending a team of senior officials to settle the issue.