UT estate office ‘misplaces’ property records

Adversely impacts MC’s tax collection

Chandigarh, January 19
The Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC) continues to grope in the dark with regard to the realisation of property tax from over 50 per cent defaulters among 1,848 tax payees as the estate office has “misplaced” or “lost” the relevant records.

The property of a majority of tax defaulters came under the purview of the estate office, but they were required to deposit property tax with the MC. The MC has a list of defaulters in its possession, but does not have addresses and other relevant records of the properties. As a result, there are a number of property owners who have not deposited commercial property tax since 2004, when it was introduced in the city.

MC Additional Commissioner Lalit Siwach said the MC was regularly communicating with the estate office for seeking details of the property of defaulters, but it had failed to supply the records to date.

In the wake of the missing records, there has been a negligible increase in the collection of property tax in the last three years. The area under the jurisdiction of the MC has increased manifold during the period under study. In the current financial year (2011-2012), the collection target was Rs 19 crore, but the department could manage only Rs 14.02 crore till December. During the last financial year, the MC had managed to collect Rs 14.42 crore. In 2009, the tax collection was about the same. A senior official said as per a provision under the Commercial Property Tax Act, if any property was rented out by the owner, the authorities could attach the rent to recover the pending tax amount and it would come in the kitty of the MC.

As per another clause, if the owner is using the property, the MC could attach the movable and later immovable property to collect the pending tax. Expressing helplessness, the official said it was a setback to the authorities as they could not take stringent action against the defaulters.