Calcutta, Aug. 21 : The water war over property-tax dues has taken a decisive turn. The Supreme Court, in an interim order on Monday, has asked the owner of the property on 2/7, Sarat Bose Road, Sree Durga Agencies, to deposit Rs 20 lakh within two weeks to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC). The company has also been directed to clear its arrears, amounting to Rs 4.1 crore, to the civic body within a month. The civic authorities have, in turn, been directed to restore water supply to the premises within 48 hours of the order being passed. Sree Durga Agencies had filed a special leave petition in the court of Justices U.C. Banerjee and B.N. Agarwal last month, challenging the order of a Calcutta High Court division bench, comprising Justices S. Banerjee and P. Sinha. The bench had directed the owners of the building to pay Rs 1.5 crore to the CMC for its waterlines to be restored. The petitioner claimed that 'all sums payable have already been paid' to the civic body. The apex court will hear the case again on September 2. This is the first time a tax dispute has reached the Supreme Court since the enactment empowering the civic authorities to disconnect filtered water supply to premises defaulting on property tax for four quarters came into effect. Officer on special duty to the mayor Shaktibrata Ghosh, who is also a senior law officer, said Sree Durga Agencies had applied for the waiver-of-interest scheme and a demand notice of Rs 3.1 crore was served on them. But the company refused to pay up and challenged the bill amount. On expiry of the scheme on April 30, the CMC slapped a water supply disconnection notice on the premises. Sree Durga Agencies then moved high court, where Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya ordered immediate restoration of water supply against a payment of Rs 88 lakh in two instalments. The owner of the premises coughed up the first instalment of Rs 40 lakh in time and the CMC restored water supply to the premises. But with no sign of the second instalment, the civic body again disconnected the water supply. When Sree Durga Agencies did finally deposit the second instalment, the civic body did not restore the water supply. This prompted the owner of the highrise to file a petition in the high court against the CMC, followed by the special leave petition in the apex court. 'The total amount of unrealised property tax of the CMC amounts to over Rs 200 crore. We have also given the defaulters a one-time benefit to pay up their dues without paying interest and penalty, but most of them did not respond,' said mayor Subrata Mukherjee. 'The civic coffers will run dry if this trend is not reversed.'