East civic body sends notices to tax defaulters to recover ₹500 crore

MONEY MATTERS Corporation officials say house tax is a major revenue source and recovery of dues will help boost its finances

NEW DELHI : The cash-strapped East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has issued property tax notices to defaulter government agencies to recover nearly ₹500 crore from them, a senior EDMC official has said.

Notices have been sent to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and Northern Railways. EDMC commissioner Dilraj Kaur said, “House tax is a major source of revenue for us. Since raising the tax rate is difficult, we are trying to recover our dues at least.”

According to a municipal official, DDA is one of the main defaulters and owes ₹378.17 crore. The land-owning agency has not paid property tax for its four sports complexes -- Yamuna Sports Complex in Surajmal Vihar, Poorvi Dilli Khel Parisar in Tahirpur, Chilla Sports Complex in Vasundhara Enclave and Commonwealth Games Village Sports Complex near Akshardham Temple. This is besides DDA’S 111 parking sites, offices and wedding grounds.

DDA vice-chairman Tarun Kapoor said, “We have got a similar notice from the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. They are charging us for vacant land. All our land is used for development projects. We are trying to resolve the issue through the housing and urban affairs Ministry.”

The recovery of ₹500 crore is important for the corporation as there is a deficit of ₹2,421 crore in its budget for the financial year 2018-19. A senior EDMC official said some of these agencies had not paid outstanding dues since 2004 when the MCD was not even trifurcated.

The urgency to recover the money can be sensed from the notices.

In its notice sent to Delhi Jal