SHILLONG: The State Cabinet on Friday held a meeting to discuss and approve various proposals including, proposal to conduct Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) for Upper Primary and Lower Primary teachers, property tax reforms and constitution of Municipal Property Tax Board, among others.
After due deliberations on the proposal to conduct TET for UP and LP school teachers, it was decided that the Government will notify the process of recruitment as per norms and guidelines prescribed by NCTE and RTE Act, 2009 and approved the proposal of the Education department to conduct TET examination through an Empowered Committee headed by the Commissioner & Secretary, Education with DERT as the Secretary.
On composition of Meghalaya Municipal Property Tax Board, the Cabinet was apprised of the 13th Finance Commission’s recommendation of two types of grant components, basic and performance-based. While all the states will have access to the basic grant out of the divisible pool for 2010-15, performance grant could be availed only by states which met nine stipulated conditions and one of the conditions is that the state governments must constitute state-level property tax board which would assist the municipalities to put in place an independent and transparent procedure for assessing property tax.
Since Meghalaya Municipal Act, 1973 had no provision for the same, amendment proposal for insertion of a new section enabling the State Government to constitute state-level property tax board was introduced and passed by the State Assembly and assented by the Governor in March, 2012.
As per sub-section 2 of section 67A-composition of State-level Property Tax Board, term of office, its functions, budget & accounts are to be prescribed and hence the Cabinet approved the Meghalaya Municipal Property Tax Board (Constitution, Function, Fund and Management) Rules, 2015 and decided to constitute the Board in due course of time.
The subject of Property Tax Reforms in local bodies under Meghalaya Municipal Act was also taken up during the meeting. The Act empowers the Municipal Board to levy and collect property tax from the owners of the urban real estate (land and building). However determination of property tax had been subjective and at the discretion of the assessment officials of municipalities leading to discontentment amongst the public and leakage of revenue and considering these, as well as to bring more transparency and clarity, property tax reforms has been mandatory under JNNURM, ADB-assisted NERCCDIP and 13th Finance Commission Award. As such second Municipal Valuation Committee for Shillong Municipal Board was constituted in 2011 to re-examine the existing property tax system and recommend measures to implement unit area-based complete self assessment with the help of GIS mapping to determine the categorization of localities into zones and fix unit area value for each zone and based on the committee report, the new system of property taxation is evolved. The main objective of the reform is to bring down the gap between revenue collection and expenditure of the municipal bodies and bring in transparency and efficiency in tax collection system with user friendly approach.
In this connection the Cabinet asked the department concerned to organize workshops to sensitize the stakeholders and facilitate online posting of views and suggestions.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal of the Programme Implementation Department to set up MPLADS Implementation Monitoring Cell for proper implementation of the scheme in the districts.
Appointment of non-bonded doctors to the post of Medical & Health Officers in the State, proposal for amendment of Meghalaya Shops & Establishments Registration Rules, proposal to add new clause in Meghalaya Service Conduct Rules in respect of elective posts in sports bodies, appointment of new Secretary to Meghalaya State Consumers Dispute Commission and appointment of lecturers in Shillong Polytechnic under 3(F) Rules were among the agenda taken up for discussion and approval by the Cabinet.
