NEW DELHI: Even as Mayor Satbir Singh on Monday ordered formation of a five-member committee to look into the issue of falling property tax collection in the Capital, the Assessment and Collection Department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi attached bank accounts of three schools and one cinema hall and hospital each that owe property tax worth crores.

The bank accounts of DGS International School, Dwarka (Rs.1 crore); Bal Bhawan Public School, Dwarka (Rs.18 lakhs); ABB School, IP Extension; Khanna Cinema, Dev Nagar (Rs.13 lakhs); and Janaki Devi Memorial Hospital, Nairana (Rs.41 lakhs) were seized.

Similarly, notices were served to Plato Public School, IP Extension; ABB School, Mayur Vihar; Shahid Rajguru Public School; St. Andrews Public School, IP Extension; Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College, Lajpat Nagar; Maharaja Agrasen College, Malviya Nagar; Acharya Narendra Dev College, Kalkaji.

Stating that of these many institutions have failed to clear their dues since the Unit Area Method of property tax evaluation was implemented a couple of years ago, a senior MCD official said on Tuesday they would be targeting schools in West Delhi and also institutions in the city's two institutional areas -- Qutab and Tughlakabad.

Meanwhile, at the MCD House meeting, the Mayor constituted the committee headed by Leader of the House Jitender Kochar to look into the issue of shoddy property tax collection. Councillors expressed concern that just one month has left for the close of the current fiscal, but the MCD has managed to collect just Rs.525 crores against the target of Rs.1,576 crores, which would lead to serious financial problems for the civic body.

Opposition BJP members blamed the Congress-ruled Corporation for it and demanded total review of the new mechanism of property tax collection, which was rejected by the Congress leaders stating that elsewhere it has taken at least five years to streamline the collection mechanism.

They claimed that the new system has made filing of property tax return convenient and transparent for citizens of Delhi.

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