Tax relief for unauthorised colonies, urban villages

I don’t think the proposal will get administrative approval, because we are already running short of funds and are looking for avenues to increase revenue collection. The decision will lead to a ₹40cr loss. Senior EDMC official

NEWDELHI: Owners of properties in unauthorised neighbourhoods, rural and urbanised villages in east Delhi, need not pay property tax for the period between April 2004 and March 2018.

The East Delhi Municipal Corporation’s (EDMC) standing committee passed a resolution on Thursday, extending relief to thousands of property owners living in unauthorised colonies and rural areas.

The resolution will help in increasing the total number of tax payers, the standing committee chairman Satpal Singh, said.

The decision has been taken following complaints from tax payers, who found it difficult to pay the large amount in a lump sum.

“We have received complaints wherein the taxable amount for the past 14 years was double the value of the property. In the given circumstances, why would the taxpayer come forward to pay t he amount?” Rajeev Kumar, BJP councillor from Dallupura, said.

“If we want to increase the number of tax payers from unauthorised neighbourhoods then we should relax their house tax for the previous years. The move will also persuade them to pay tax regularly in the future,” said Kumar, who moved the proposal during the meeting.

To increase number of tax payers, the EDMC, in its 2018-19 budget, stressed the need to collect house tax from residential properties in rural village and unauthorised colonies, consid- ering 87% of residential areas in east Delhi are unplanned or unauthorised. Of the 754 colonies under the EDMC , only 90 are approved.

However, the move still has hurdles to clear.

“It is a private proposal and needs a final approval from the EDMC commissioner. I don’t think the proposal will get administrative approval, because we are already running short of funds and are looking for avenues to increase revenue collection. The implementation of the decision will lead to a loss of ₹40 crore. At most, we can ask the tax payers to pay the amount in instalments,” a senior EDMC official said on the condition of anonymity.

As of now, the EDMC has 2.5 lakh tax payers. To increase their numbers to six lakhs in 2018-19, the civic agency launched the unique property identification scheme (UPIC) this year.

“The increase in tax payers will help increase house tax collection from ₹260 crore in 2017-18 to ₹400 crore in 2018-19 ,”the EDMC official said.