Section 281 in The Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, 1949
281. Procedure for determining charge. - (1) When it appears to the Commissioner that an improvement scheme is sufficiently advanced to enable the amount of the betterment charge to be determined, the Commissioner shall make a report to the Standing Committee to that effect, and the Standing Committee, after considering the report may by resolution declare the date on which, for the purpose of determining the amount of the betterment charge, the execution of the scheme shall be deemed to have been completed.
(2)The amount of betterment charge leviable in each case shall be determined in accordance with section 280 after following the procedure prescribed in sub-section (3) by such officer as the [State] Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint in this behalf at the request of the Corporation.(3)On a date being fixed under sub-section (1) and an officer being appointed under sub-section (2), the Commissioner shall, in consultation with such officer, serve upon every person on whom a notice in respect of the property affected has been served under sub-section (3) of section 272, a notice which shall state -(a)the date declared by the Standing Committee under sub-section (1) as aforesaid;(b)the time, being some time not less than twenty-one days after the service of the notice, and place at which the assessment of the betterment charge will be considered by such officer, and every person upon whom such a notice is served shall be entitled to be heard either in person or by a duly authorised agent when the matter is taken into consideration by such officer.(4)When such officer has determined the amount of the betterment charge leviable in respect of any property, the Commissioner shall serve upon the person concerned a notice stating the amount so determined.(5)With effect from the date of service of the notice under sub-section (4), and subject to the decision upon any reference made to the District Court as hereinafter provided in sub-section (6), the amount of the betterment charge determined as aforesaid and interest thereon, if any, shall be a charge upon the property in respect of which it is levied, and shall be recoverable in the same manner as expenses declared to be improvement expenses under section 442.(6)If any person is dissatisfied with the charge determined by the officer appointed by the [State] Government under sub-section (2), the Commissioner shall, upon the application of such person at any time, within one month from the date of the service of a notice under sub-section (4), refer the case for the determination of the District Court whose decision thereupon shall be final.(7)If no application for determination by the District Court is made as provided in sub-section (6), the determination of the amount of a betterment charge by the officer appointed by the [State] Government in this behalf shall be final.
