Yadavindra Public School in Patiala got a reprieve on Tuesday after the municipal corporation stayed the proposed auction of the school for recovery of tax.

The corporation had claimed tax arrears to the tune of Rs 17 crore, after it revised the house tax for the school around three years ago. Municipal Commissioner M S Narang had last week issued an order to auction the school property.

The MC has now decided to stay the auction proceedings till September 8, the next date of hearing of the appeal filed by the YPS before the divisional commissioner.

On Tuesday, Narang wrote to YPS principal Stanley Vinod Kumar that in view of the pending appeal the MC had decided to keep in abeyance till next month its two auction notices sent on August 7.

Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal talked to Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli and the commissioner, seeking early resolution of the matter. The CM had reportedly expressed unhappiness over the “mishandling” of the issue, which had drawn flak from several quarters.

After the chief minister’s intervention, Kohli and Narang visited the school and offered to amicably sort out the issue.

Former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who is the patron of the school, too sent his Officer on Special Duty and alumnus Major Amardeep Singh to the school to sort out the tax issue and save YPS from any harassment.

Earlier, Kohli told Newsline: “The school management had failed to take up their case in an efficient manner with the civic body in the last over two years. The tax was levied after a meeting of the House Tax Committee.”

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