Latest news with #K-Smart
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Akshaya entrepreneurs in Ernakulam suspend K-Smart services over low service charges
Akshaya entrepreneurs in Ernakulam district, affiliated to the Akshaya Welfare Association, have unofficially suspended K-Smart services in protest against what they allege is an abysmally low service charge unilaterally fixed by the State government without any consultation. On Friday (August 8, 2025), the association laid siege to the district project office and submitted a representation, along with their charter of rates, to the district project manager, who assured them that it would be forwarded to the State project office. The government had issued the order fixing service charges for K-Smart services on Wednesday (August 6, 2025). 'Unless the government decides to revisit the rates, we will go ahead and start charging service charges as per our charter from Saturday (August 9,2025). We cannot continue causing inconvenience to the public by suspending the delivery of K-Smart services,' said G.K. Sreeraj, secretary, Akshaya Welfare Association. Meanwhile, Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh clarified that K-Smart, the digital platform developed by the Information Kerala Mission for the Local Self-Government department, was designed to be user-friendly, enabling anyone with basic computer skills to access it. However, people continue to rely on Akshaya centres. There have been complaints about service charges varying across centres, with some allegedly collecting exorbitant fees. The K-Smart service charges were fixed in this context, Mr. Rajesh said. Since the launch of Project Akshaya 23 years ago, service fees have been revised only once—in 2018. Akshaya entrepreneurs have been up in arms ever since, citing the negligible revision, which they said did not reflect rising operational costs or the stiff competition from private citizen service centres. 'The sad part is that even the revised service charges for K-Smart services were fixed unilaterally and kept abysmally low,' said Mr. Sreeraj. He cited the example of the charge for changing building ownership—a process that involves scanning and uploading the title deed, possession certificate, consent letter from the previous owner, death certificate (if applicable), two pages of the Haritha Karma Sena register, and entering building details in both English and Malayalam. 'This laborious process takes up to 30 minutes, yet the service charge is just ₹50,' he rued. A similar situation exists with the service charge for marriage registration, said Mr. Sreeraj. The process involves entering the one-time password received by the bride, bridegroom, and two witnesses, uploading the Aadhaar cards and SSLC books of the couple, feeding in their personal details in both English and Malayalam, uploading the marriage certificate, and completing a video verification of the newly-wed couple. 'The entire process takes up to 45 minutes, yet the service charge is just ₹70 for the general category and ₹50 for the scheduled category—while the government fee for marriage registration itself is ₹120,' he pointed out.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Orders issued on service charges at Akshaya centres
The State government has issued orders fixing the service charges payable to Akshaya centres for K-Smart online services of Local Self-Government institutions. The order issued by the Electronics and IT department makes it clear that the service charges are to be levied in addition to the application fee linked to services, if any. The application fees and service charges should be clearly displayed at the Akshaya centres, the August 6 order said. The service charges are as follows: birth registration (₹40); death registration (₹40); corrections in birth and death registration (₹50); marriage registration (₹70 for general category, ₹3 per page for printing and scanning, ₹50 for SC/ST categories including the fee for printing/scanning); corrections in marriage registration (₹60); licence application (₹40); corrections in licences (₹40); complaints (₹30); fee for downloading certificates and notifications (per page ₹10); payment charges for tax fees (₹10 for amounts up to ₹1,000, ₹20 for amounts from ₹1,001 to ₹5,000, and 0.5% of the amount or ₹100, whichever is lowest, for sums in excess of ₹1,000); ownership change (₹50); applications for BPL certificate (₹10); and other applications (₹20).
The Hindu
31-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Kerala HC grants time to submit comprehensive audit report on K-Smart
Expressing dissatisfaction over an audit report submitted before it regarding complaints registered through the K-Smart (Kerala Solutions for Managing Administrative Reformation and Transformation) platform, the Kerala High Court has said that the report did not meet the standards set by the court. The Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran said this while considering petitions on the proliferation of unauthorised banners and bill boards in public places. The K-Smart is an e-governance platform for local bodies, which could also be used to redress grievances. 'A list, not a report' The court said the audit report filed by the Secretary, Local Self-Governments, lacked clarity, including on the actual nature of complaints and the action taken. It only contained the number of complaints received and those resolved. It was more of a list than an audit report and lacked pertinent details, the court said. With the government seeking time to submit a comprehensive audit report, the court allowed it, while stating that the report should include all pertinent details, including the fine amounts collected from rule violators.
The Hindu
30-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Jump in property tax collection in Kerala
Property tax collection across local self-government bodies in the State in the first month of the current financial year has recorded an increase by 87% compared to the same period in 2024-25. The increase in tax collection is being attributed to the 5% reduction in taxes offered to those paying taxes in the first month of the year as well as the digitisation of the tax collection process through the implementation of the K-Smart (Kerala Solutions for Managing Administrative Reformation and Transformation) platform. The biggest jump of 135% in tax collection was in the Corporations. While the property tax collection in the Corporations was ₹18.48 crore in April 2024, the same was ₹43.46 crore in April this year. In the municipalities, the tax collection increased by 100% from ₹18.25 crore to ₹36.53 crore compared to April last year. In the grama panchayats, there was a 50% increase in tax collection from ₹30.09 crore to ₹44.99 crore. Early payment The Local Self-Government department had this year announced a 5% reduction for those who pay their taxes in the first month of the financial year as a measure to incentivise early tax payment. This would also allow the local bodies to have more funds for developmental activities in the earlier part of the year. A large part of the property tax collection used to happen towards the fag end of the financial year until recently. Through the 5% reduction, the government has foregone a total of ₹4.74 crore. A change in this scenario began with the introduction of K-SMART in urban local bodies two years ago and in grama panchayats this year. The Corporations which were having an abysmal tax collection of just 22.35% in 2022-23 improved its collections drastically to 56.20% in 2024-25, with the total collection increasing from ₹305.03 crore to ₹618.42 crore. In the case of municipalities, the tax collection increased from 39.28% in 2022-23 to 64.37% in 2024-25 from ₹318.32 crore to ₹603.96 crore.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Kochi corporation faces heat over missing building data in K-Smart portal
Kochi: Of the 2.5 lakh building permits assessed within Kochi city limits, data related to nearly 50,000 buildings is missing from the Kochi Corporation's database—a serious issue that has disrupted tax payments and licence renewals for many property owners. So far, over 1,450 building owners have lodged formal complaints with the civic body. Corporation officials said efforts are underway to physically verify missing records and minimize inconvenience to the public. The issue primarily stems from the time when TCS was managing the e-governance programme. After the contract was scrapped due to delays and payment disputes, the private firm withheld data, including critical building permit details. Opposition councillors blame the situation on the administration's failure to spot discrepancies during the software transition. "Thousands of building numbers were omitted from the e-portal. The owners only realize this when they try to pay tax. We suspect the actual number could be higher than 50,000," said Antony Kureethra, leader of the opposition. MG Aristotle, secretary of the UDF parliamentary party and member of the finance committee, pointed out that according to Section 240 of municipal rules, building numbers can only be omitted after clearing tax dues and restoration requires permission from the regional joint director. "When the transition from Sanchaya software to K-Smart took place, tens of thousands of buildings were left out. People only discover the issue when they attempt to make payments," said Aristotle, adding that the corporation still lacks clarity on the total number of missing records. Officials have considered assigning sub-numbers to the omitted buildings, but this creates legal complications, especially when the original numbers are mentioned in title deeds and official documents. A senior official maintained that data pertaining to most buildings are now available with K-Smart. However, he failed to give the exact numbers but took credit for reinforcing the stalled e-governance project in corporation limits. "When we assumed power in 2020, the e-governance project was delayed by a decade. At a time when even the Kuttampuzha panchayat, which is located in the remote area of the district, issued e-birth certificates and marriage certificates, people had to stand in queue in front of the Kochi corporation office to register birth, death, marriage, etc and get certificates," he said. "Tiding over all the crises during the tenure of the previous two councils, we gathered data, roped in IKM, and implemented the e-governance project by 2022. Now, all our services are available through K-Smart," the official added.
