The Hindu : New Delhi News : MCD panel for more house tax outlets

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Tuesday, Sep 28, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD panel for more house tax outlets

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 27. Flooded with complaints of difficulties in paying house tax, the Hardship and Anomalies Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has urged the Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, to open more outlets for the citizens to deposit their tax.

In a letter to Mr. Mehta, the Committee Chairman, K. Dharmarajan, recommended going in for online payment, besides tying up with Easy Bill, which has more than 500 outlets across the Capital to provide multiple options to people to pay their house tax. A unit of Hero Group, Easy Bill, is already collecting bills on behalf of several other organisations including the three power discoms, MNTL and mobile operators.

"They are also in the process of tying up with agencies like the Delhi Jal Board and the Delhi Traffic police for payment of bills and challans," he said. Referring to Section 172 A of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (amended), Mr. Dharamarajan said it had a provision for outsourcing tax collection system of the MCD.

As the people were facing difficulties in depositing their house tax because of inadequate infrastructural facilities, he said: "This arrangement could be in addition to other facilities for collection of tax." In lieu, the company could collect a nominal amount from consumers directly. While, Easy Bill is demanding Rs. 25 for payment of house tax, the amount could be negotiated, he observed.

He said the Easy Bill outlet, which remains opens from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., would be collecting the assessment form and tax payment either through cash or cheque and issue a receipt on behalf of the civic body.

Saral Form

With property-owners facing difficulties in filling up the 12-page self-assessment form, the Hardship and Anomalies Committee has developed a one page (back-to-back) Saral form for property information and calculation of house tax.

"The new form, which could be read by computer and is very easy to fill, would soon be made available to the public," said Sanjay Puri, a member of the Committee. "This Saral form has been designed and developed by the Hardship and Anomaly Committee in the larger interest of the tax payer," he said.

"This would not only be of great help to the property-owners, but also would save a lot of paper as it would replace the 12-page form by just one page," Mr. Puri argued. The Saral form,would be placed on the websites -- http://www.mcdonline.gov.in and htt://www.mcduam.com -- he said.

Concessions to industry likely

The only political member of the Hardship and Anomalies Committee, Mr. Puri said the Committee at its next meeting, would consider "sympathetically" the reasonable demands of the city industrialists and trading community who are protesting against the Unit Area System, arguing that this had increased their house tax several times.

Among their major demands, which is expected to be considered sympathetically, include increasing the pre-payment rebate from five per cent to 15 per cent and some relaxation in the use factor. "Trade and industry constitute more than 60 per cent of the house tax collection of the MCD. We cannot ignore them. We have to bring them under the tax net," he said. As of now, industrial and trading community have decided not to pay their house tax under the new system as a mark of protest.

LG's intervention sought

Meanwhile, Mr. Puri in a letter to the Delhi Lieutenant-Governor, B. L. Joshi, alleged that the Delhi Development Authority was "not cooperating" with the Committee. "Despite repeated reminders, the DDA is yet to provide the covered area details of its colonies. This is resulting in a lot of inconvenience for those staying in DDA flats in calculating and paying their house tax," he said.

Seeking immediate intervention of the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Puri alleged: "This kind of anti-people and lethargic attitude of the DDA would undo all the goodwill that has been generated by the Unit Area System of house tax among the people."

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