Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital gets PMC notice to clear tax dues of Rs22 crore in two days

Pune: PMC on Monday sent a notice to Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, asking it to pay over Rs22 crore property tax dues within two days of receiving it.
According to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), the hospital received the notice on Tuesday. A source in PMC said the hospital must pay Rs22.06 crore dues to the civic administration within Thursday.

Dhananjay Kelkar, the medical director at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, said he was not aware of the notice sent by PMC.
The hospital management claimed that the matter of tax discount was under legal dispute. The hospital had been depositing the tax amount in the court and had no dues, its authorities stressed.
Pratibha Patil, the head of PMC's property tax department, told TOI, "Even if the legal battle is under way, the property owner has to pay the tax as per the directive of the court."
According to PMC officials, the civic administration charges various taxes under the property tax head, including general tax, water tax, education tax, conservancy tax, tree tax and fire tax. The hospital management objected only to the "general tax" component. They approached the court in 2016-17 and sought its exemption.
The high court issued a directive in 2017 and asked the hospital to pay 50% of the general tax and other taxes included in the property tax. According to a judgment passed by Justice Mridula Bhatkar on February 9, 2018, in the petition of Lata Mangeshkar Medical Foundation versus PMC, "plaintiff-trust has disputed the general tax and not the other tax".
A PMC official said, "All the remaining taxes are applicable to the hospital. Even if the hospital is depositing some dues in the court, it is still liable to pay other taxes directly to PMC. "
According to the PMC's notice to the hospital, an oral order was given on Monday to confiscate its property if the hospital management failed to clear dues within the stipulated time. The verbal order was issued in a meeting with the commissioner and additional commissioner of PMC.
The civic body's records show that the hospital's property is located at Erandwane Survey Number 8+13/2. The owner of the property, as per the property tax registry, is Lata Mangeshkar Medical Foundation. The property tax number is P/4/01/00593000, and the dues is Rs27.38 crore till the end of the 2024-25 fiscal.
Kelkar, the medical director of Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, had said on Monday, "We pay the property tax in the court because we challenged PMC's decision to charge us at the commercial property rate. The matter is sub judice and nothing is pending from our end."