Civic body threatens to seize assets of tax defaulters
For those expecting penalty waivers related to property tax this year, there is some bad news. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is all set to crack the whip on property tax defaulters, making it clear that there would be no penalty waivers. The civic body has decided to crackdown on the 4.5 lakh erring property owners beginning Monday, in order to collect property tax dues amounting to `168 crore.
The civic body, earlier this month had served ‘red’ notices to defaulters in all 30 circles, asking them to clear their property tax dues within the stipulated time, beginning from the date of issuance of the notices. Failure to clear the existing dues even after receiving ‘red’ notices, would force the GHMC to execute a distress warrant, to seize their movable properties under Section 269 (2) of the GHMC Act. The corporation has already issued as many as 340 notices till date and they were ready to act on chronic defaulters.
As on February 18, GHMC has collected over `931 crores as property tax. Last year, it was `751 crores during the same period.
A senior official of GHMC said that they were on the right track regarding the collection of property dues, and that the target of `1,400 crores would be achieved. The corporation has set a target of `470 crores in 42 days.
The official said that GHMC circle offices that had the most commercial outlets, such as Abids, Khairatabad, Serilingampally and Kukatpally, had formed teams to identify defaulting malls and stores. “Those failing to pay their tax after repeated notices and warnings would have their names on the flexes and seizures would follow. It is a departmental issue, unlike private holders,” the official added.
Meanwhile, tax collectors have been directed to meet defaulters personally or to reach out to them either through phone or SMS for clearing their pending taxes. “Every bill collector in each of the 30 circles has a target of `10 crores by this month end,” said the official.
On the flip side, several property tax owners complained that even though they had been clearing their property tax dues regularly, every financial year, they had still been receiving continuous SMSs pertaining to clearing their property tax dues, failing which they would be issued notices.
P. Sridhar, a resident of Nacharam, said that even though he had cleared the tax dues for both the current and the previous years, he had still been receiving continuous text messages from the civic body to clear his property tax dues or else he would receive a notice that his property would be seized.