NEW DELHI: The Delhi Government and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi seem to be on collision course on the issue of property tax. The civic body's step to seal the bank accounts of the Delhi Jal Board to recover property tax has not gone down well with senior Delhi Government authorities, who have called a meeting on Monday to discuss the issue.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who also heads the water utility, is reportedly not pleased with the MCD's arm-twisting tactics on the issue of property tax collection. The matter could aggravate further as several of her departments have failed to pay property tax and are accumulating arrears worth crores of rupees. The MCD is planning to seal bank accounts of other defaulting departments and organisations also.

Sources in the Delhi Government said the Chief Minister was angry with the MCD's move to seal the DJB's bank accounts and would review the situation at a meeting on Monday for which senior MCD officials have also been called. Last year also the MCD had tried to seal bank accounts of various Delhi Government departments but failed to do so due to intervention of senior Delhi Government functionaries, while some Government departments even went to court seeking relief.

The MCD that is facing financial crunch mainly due to poor property collections for the past three years is to collect around Rs.900 crore from the various Government departments and agencies alone. The major defaulters Government departments being Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Development Authority, Public Works Department, Transco, universities and colleges, Central Public Works Department, Delhi Police, Delhi Transport Corporation and Delhi Secretariat.

Another peculiar case is that of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) that claims that it was governed by a special Act of Parliament and therefore not liable to pay property tax to the MCD. However, the civic body wants DMRC to pay property tax as well as arrears worth over Rs.250 crore. The matter is in court, while efforts by the Delhi Government to resolve the issue outside the court is also continuing.

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