GHMC Bill Collector Alleges Corruption

Hyderabad: A Saroornagar GHMC bill collector has complained to commissioner R.V. Karnan against the deputy commissioner, assistant municipal commissioner and tax inspector of their jurisdiction. He also gave a written complaint to him, alleging corruption and inaction over tax discrepancies.

V. Srisailam, the bill collector, told Deccan Chronicle that he had served notices to 40 establishments operating commercial businesses but paying property tax under the residential slab, which is significantly lower than the commercial rate.

The bill collector said that despite repeatedly raising the issue with his superiors, no action was taken. “If there is a Vigilance enquiry, I will be in trouble, as I am the ground-level official responsible for ensuring properties are taxed correctly. I will be held accountable,” he said, alleging that his superiors were deliberately ignoring the violations.

He directly accused the tax inspector T. Anand of corruption and said that the deputy commissioner of Saroornagar circle, A. Sujatha, had failed to act on his complaints.

However, deputy commissioner Sujatha refuted the claims, stating that the bill collector had not followed due procedure. “He only serves notices but does not measure the properties or submit the file for approval of the revised property tax. Instead, he blames others without completing his responsibilities,” she said.

She further alleged that Srisailam had resisted being assigned to property tax work and had expressed interest in being posted as an assistant licensing officer for trade licences at the zonal level. “Now that he is handling property tax duties, he is casting aspersions,” she said. Sujatha also noted that Srisailam had faced an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) case during his previous posting in the Charminar circle.