The Hindu : New Delhi News : Confusion prevails over new property tax

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Confusion prevails over new property tax

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 10. There is all-round chaos and confusion among property owners in the Capital over payment of house tax in view of vastly "contradictory" signals from various quarters. For its part, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is yet to decide on several crucial issues relating to rebates and concessions under the Unit Area System which came into effect on April 1.

Though the civic body has extended the last date for availing of pre-payment concessions to September 30, people are still hesitant to file their property tax returns in the absence of a "clear-cut" policy. The MCD and its Hardship and Anomalies Committee have been flooded with phone calls from anxious residents eager to submit their property tax returns.

The Delhi Residents' Welfare Association Joint Front has urged the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and the Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, to extend the deadline further. "The MCD has created a lot of confusion by frequently changing its position on a number of issues. There is great suspense among residents as responsible officials and leaders in the MCD and the Delhi Government are giving contradictory statements," said D.M. Narang, general secretary of the R-Block RWA in New Rajinder Nagar.

Observing that property owners in the city were more confused now than at the time of introduction of the new system, the Joint Front president, V.C. Tandon, said: "House tax counters in the civic body offices are not able to provide the latest and authentic information. As a result, people have been running from pillar to post without getting any information regarding filling the self-assessment forms and depositing house tax. The absence of any official information either from the MCD or the Delhi Government has only compounded the situation." In a letter, Mr. Tandon has sought immediate intervention of Ms. Dikshit.

Reminding the Chief Minister of her pre-poll promises especially capping of house tax to two and half times, Mr. Tandon urged Ms. Dikshit to ensure the same was not only implemented but also notified at the earliest. Referring to the contradictory statements on age of senior citizens and requirement of an architect's certification and permissible area of concessions, he requested Ms. Dikshit to ensure that such statements were not propagated.

The RWAs said they had prepared a ready reckoner for filing of house tax which they had to change half-a-dozen times in the past few months. They also wondered whether the civic body would be able to cater to the rush of citizens who would be thronging its offices for filing house tax. "The manner in which the MCD has been moving about, it seems the clarification would be issued almost at the eleventh hour. And once again the middle-men and touts would call the shots," said K.P. Mishra, who had come to deposit his house tax at the R.K. Puram office, but had to return without doing so.

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