Property tax: MCD to get tough with defaulters

NEW DELHI: With the deadline for payment of property tax over, the MCD is now laying the groundwork for bringing defaulters to book. And unlike other years, the corporation is in no mood to wait till the fag end of the new financial to begin recoveries.
"We will start the recovery process from April 4. The entire process has been worked out. The first step will be to impose 12% interest on the duration of default, and a penalty (maximum 30%) on the due amount.After this, we will start sending notices. Next, we may even evoke the provision of imprisonment that is provided for under the new system,"said MCD assessor and collector Sangeeta Kampani.
Tax collections have been sluggish so far, with many industrial and commercial property owners not paying up. But a senior MCD official claimed that the situation was not too bad.
"We have reached the Rs 800-crore mark. The reconciliation process is still on, and we expect to rake in another few crores,"said MCD commissioner Rakesh Mehta.
Tax officials, however, say that the commercial sector was yet to come forward to pay taxes. Industries had paid up after the corporation announced major reliefs for them last month.
"The Rs 100 crore that has come in during the last phase is mainly from industries,"said an official.
Issues like one-time tax, however, have yet to be resolved.
While the MCD standing committee recently cleared a proposal to send a recommendation to the Delhi government to effect necessary changes in law to exempt 4,000-odd property owners who paid one-time tax, Mehta plans to oppose the move.
"There is no law that provides for this kind of an exemption. Offering a one-time tax payment scheme was an error of judgment, because of which the scheme was discontinued the year after it was introduced. As commissioner, I have full say in a finance Bill,"said Mehta.
The corporation has also decided to appoint commissioner agents for collecting property tax up to Rs 1 lakh. Registered cooperative societies and MCD officials will be eligible for collecting taxes.
"Co-op societies will get a commission of 3% per collection, while officials will get 2%,"said an MCD official.