Manyata Tech Park in Bengaluru, which is one of the largest tech parks in the country, had been briefly closed down by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) revenue department for non-payment of property tax on Tuesday, February 1. However, it was then allowed to open after the administration agreed to pay the outstanding tax.
According to a BBMP revenue official, the outstanding tax amount of Manyata stands at around Rs 70 crore. Manyata Tech Park houses several reputed IT companies including IBM, Cognizant, Philips, Target and ANZ Bank. In a statement, the Embassy group said, "Embassy and its special purpose vehicles, including Manyata Promoters Private Limited, have always acted and continue to act in accordance with the provisions of applicable law and regulations. There are multiple proceedings filed by Manyata Promoters Private Limited against the BBMP in connection with disputes over property tax which are currently sub-judice before the Honorable High Court of Karnataka and we await the final orders in these proceedings. As the matters are sub-judice, we are not in a position to comment further…”
Earlier, in September 2021, BBMP revenue officials had tried to close down Mantri Square mall, which is one of the most popular locations in Bengaluru, for non-payment of tax for two years. The outstanding tax at the time was over Rs 39 crore. However, the officials allowed the mall to keep functioning after the administration of Mantri mall handed the officials a Demand Draft (DD) of Rs 5 crore.
The BBMP had then said that revenue officials had resorted to such a step after the cheque worth over Rs 10 crore, given by Mantri mall administrators, had bounced.
According to a document by BBMP, the tax arrears of Mantri mall were as follows. In the financial year 2018-19, the arrears stood at over Rs 12.47 crore. In 2019-2020, the tax arrears stood at over Rs 10.84 crore. In 2020-21, the tax arrears were worth over Rs 9.21 crore, and in 2021-22, the arrears stood at over Rs 6.95 crore.
Just around one and a half months after this incident, the mall was shut down again by the officials for three hours by the revenue officials as the time provided to the administration to clear the dues had expired and they had still not paid the dues.