The Hindu : New Delhi News : MCD team going abroad to study house tax

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Friday, Jan 07, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD team going abroad to study house tax

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 6. Nine months after implementation of the new "people-friendly" Unit Area System of assessing house tax, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has decided to send a team of top officials and Councillors to Toronto and London next month to review the new system.

The nine-day study trip to Toronto and London, officials said, would help them formulate a more people-friendly Unit Area System of house tax in the Capital and remove anomalies -- if any -- in the new system that came into effect on April 1, 2004. The team is likely to leave the Capital on February 18.

The team members proposed for the trip include the Hardship and Anomaly Committee chairman, K. Dharamrajan; Principal Secretary (Urban Development), O.P. Kelkar; Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, and the property tax expert in the Hardship and Anomaly Committee, Gautam Naresh. Among the political representatives are the Leader of House, Satbir Singh; the Standing Committee Chairman, Mukesh Goel; the Leader of Opposition, Subhash Arya; and the Congress Councillor from Janakpuri, Sanjay Puri, in the capacity of being a member of the Hardship and Anomaly Committee.

While the proposal has been sent to the Delhi Government for formal clearance, the Leader of Opposition in the Standing Committee, Vijender Kumar Gupta, today questioned the need for such a trip. "Is such a trip really necessary? The Unit Area System has been implemented in Delhi and the team is going to Toronto and London to review the system and carry out an assessment. This is sheer waste of public money," Mr. Gupta alleged.

Giving details of the proposed trip, Mr. Mehta said the team would be going to Toronto for an interaction with house tax experts of the globally acclaimed Institute of Property Tax. "So far, we have been communicating with them via e-mail. A large number of people friendly measures have been taken with their consultation. They have helped us in solving a large number of problems like differential tax and rebates to the commercial properties," he said. "So it was decided to send a team to the Institute to have detailed interaction with them," Mr. Mehta said. The Institute has its sub-office in London, which has carried out detailed study on valuation methods of house tax. "Thus the team would also be visiting London hoping that the interaction with them and the subsequent report by the study team would be helpful for the next Municipal Valuation Committee," he said.

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