Civic woes: BJP levels "tax chori" allegations against Cong govt in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): In an apparent counter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's "vote chori" barb centered around Karnataka, the state BJP on Tuesday levelled "tax chori" allegation against the party-led government following a citizens forum's recent grievance aired to the state Chief Minister.
BJP leader R Ashoka accused the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government of "tax Chori" (tax theft) and said Bengaluru deserves action to address its infrastructure woes, not excuses and intimidation.
Ashoka, the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, attacked the government by highlighting a citizens forum's letter urging Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to intervene and direct the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) not to collect property tax from residents, complaining that "unscientific and incomplete" civic works in their locality have led to flooding and poor road conditions.
Ashoka's tax theft allegation is also seen as a counter to Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi's "vote chori" (votes theft) charge made against the BJP and the Election Commission, citing certain alleged irregularities in Karnataka's Aland (Kalaburagi dt) and Mahadevpura (Bengaluru) Assembly segments in the 2023 Assembly polls and 2024 Parliamentary elections, respectively.
"Mr Rahul Gandhi, Bengaluru has a new slogan: CONGRESS TAX CHOR HAI! (Congress is tax thief)," Ashoka said in a post on 'X' alleging that the government is collecting taxes, but not building roads or fixing drains.
"Thanks to the apathy of CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, Bengaluru citizens are fed up and demanding: STOP THIS TAX CHORI!" he said.
Ashoka said it is 'unprecedented' in India's history, where citizens are writing to the CM saying-- "stop collecting our taxes until you stop stealing our money!"
"Bengaluru deserves action, not excuses and intimidation," he added.
In a letter dated October 13, addressed to the CM, the residents of the Varthur-Balagere-Panathur area, under the banner of the "Individual Tax Payers Forum", which represents income tax payers and advocates for their rights, alleged that they have been suffering due to "half-measured, unscientific, and poorly coordinated" road white-topping and stormwater drainage works carried out by municipal authorities in their areas.
The state government has of late come under criticism over the poor state of infrastructure like roads and traffic issues in the city, with industry veterans like former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai and Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw repeatedly openly urging the state government to immediately intervene.
There was no immediate response from the ruling Congress to Ashoka's charge.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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