Top 1,000 defaulters named on Website

With 11 days left for the financial year to end, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Wednesday posted the list of top 1,000 property tax defaulters in the city, owing in all `216 crore tax including arrears and interest, on its website, www.ghmc.gov.in. GHMC commissioner M.T. Krishna Babu appealed to the long standing defaulters and those who have not paid their property tax for the current year to do so before March 31. He said the civic body will start attachment of movable properties and sealing the premises if the tax is not paid.

“The government has waived off the interest if the total tax along with arrears is paid before March 31, so avail of the opportunity. Those who have already paid the tax, along with interest, their interest amount which comes to `59 crore, would be adjusted in the tax notice in the next financial year,” he said.

Mr Babu made it clear that movable properties of either the owner or the occupant of the premises irrespective of being a tenant, can be seized, attached, or sealed by GHMC as per the Act. “The idea is not to harass the assessees, as confiscation of properties will be done only after issuing several notices against the defaulters,” he said.

Against a target of collecting `850 crore, in the current financial year, the GHMC has, till date, collected `620 crore in tax, when compared to `486 crore on the corresponding date last year. Even this `620 crore has been paid by 7.11 lakh tax payers and there are 5.82 lakh yet to pay their tax. There are a total of 12.9 lakh tax payers in the city as per the database of the civic body. “Actually, if tax is paid by all the 13 lakh assessees, the tax amount would be `1,686 crore, but this does not happen,” he said.

Stating that the list of top 1,000 defaulters was being put on the Website as per the records available with the GHMC, Mr Babu said if anyone has paid the tax or wants corrections, he/she can approach the deputy municipal commissioner. If tax is paid, their name will be removed from the list on the website.

Attributing the increased tax collections to various reasons, mainly elimination of manual billing and 100 per cent electronic collection, besides proper assessment of under assessed properties, he said tax on the government properties, both state and Central, would also be collected.