Pay property tax in 15 days or face action: Jaiswal

NAGPUR: New municipal commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal has upped the ante on the over 3 lakh property owners who have not been covered under the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s tax net for different reasons. They have been asked to get their properties registered and submit necessary documents under relevant sections of NMC Act-1948 at NMC’s zonal offices in the next 15 days or face strict action.
"Action will be taken against them for failing to get registered or submit documents of the undeclared properties," he said. "The property owners, who were recently issued demand notes, have been asked to pay the tax in their respective zonal offices in the next 15 days. If they fail to comply, notices will be issued and their properties will also be sealed."
After reviewing the work of property tax department recently, Jaiswal had said that city has over 8 lakh properties. However, since a few years only five lakh properties have been covered by the tax department. "This is the final notice to such property owners who have not registered their properties or failed to pay tax," the municipal commissioner said.
Jaiswal has set up a fresh recovery target of Rs 500 crore from octroi, Rs 300 crore from property tax and Rs 200 crore from water tax for the 2010-11 financial year. Interestingly, standing panel head Sandeep Joshi had proposed a target of Rs 176.87 crore from property tax department, Rs 375 crore from octroi and Rs 115 crore from water tax in NMC’s annual budget. Jaiswal hopes that after covering the unassessed properties, NMC can easily generate over Rs 300 crore.
To increase the revenueof property tax department, Joshi had also announced a few innovative schemes like a one-time settlement scheme and discount in general taxes for property owners who are in the tax net and have not paid their dues since 1970.
"To get discounts, tax payers have to pay their dues by December 31. Else, the NMC will levy penalty at the rate of 18%," Joshi had announced.
Property owners paying taxes by June 30 will get 5% discount, while those paying by September 30 will be eligible for a 4% discount. Further, after new property tax revaluation structure was imposed in the city from April 1, 2008, the department has been able to reassess the property tax of only 60,000 properties in 20 wards. "To speed up the revaluation (tax assessment) work of close to 5 lakh properties in the city, the NMC has planned to outsource the work to private agencies," Joshi had said.