In a significant development, the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has issued a notice to Empress Garden Management for alleged non-payment of property tax arrears totaling a substantial Rs 18.27 crores. The notice, delivered recently, emphasizes the board’s growing concerns regarding the non-payment of dues spanning the past three years, with calculations based on the annual rateable value as per the Cantonment Act of 2006.
PCB’s Chief Executive Officer, Subrat Pal, conveyed, “We have served the notice to Empress Garden Management, instructing them to settle the outstanding property tax arrears promptly. Failure to comply will lead to further legal actions.”
Empress Garden, a renowned green haven in Pune and a hub of rich biodiversity sprawling across forty acres near Pune Racecourse, is presently under the management of the Agri-Horticultural Society of Western India. Trust Honorary Secretary Suresh Pingale remarked, “Property tax-related matters fall under the jurisdiction of the public works department’s building cell, and we are not privy to further details about the notice.”
Established in 1830 by Sir John Malcolm, the then Governor of Bombay state, the Empress Garden has a rich historic legacy. Over the years, it has been nurtured by prominent figures such as botanist Dr. Birdwood, Dr. Heddle, Dr. Jagannath Shankar Seth, David Sasoon, Jamshedji Jijabhoy, and others.
The trust managing the garden includes notable members like renowned rosarian Suresh Pingale as Honorary Secretary and Dr. Phiroz Poonawalla as Honorary Treasurer. Supported by experts in the field such as Dr. Madhav Gadgil, environmentalist; Dr. Vijay Kelkar, economist and senior bureaucrat; Prof. S. D. Mahajan, botanist; Sumantai Kirloskar, environmentalist; Yashwant Khaire, former garden superintendent of PMC; and others.
