The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Third party may assess property tax

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Sunday, Jul 13, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Third party may assess property tax

11 lakh properties under GHMC tax net

Demand notices to be issued on 10 p.c. of properties left out last year
The civic body earns Rs. 13 crore under CDS in the last three months

HYDERABAD: In trying to solve the knotty issue of bringing un-assessed and under-assessed properties into the tax net, the GHMC is mulling to appoint a third party for a correct assessment of all properties.

For commercial properties in the meantime, the GHMC is to employ private teams to gather correct data on them to fix the rate.

The Corporation has about 11 lakh commercial and residential properties under its property tax net which earned it revenue of Rs. 326 crore last year.

Officials admit that there could be 10 per cent properties which could have escaped paying the tax, not including the tax to be levied on unregistered properties that have come up on government lands or encroachments. Last year, the civic body could not make much headway on these aspects and is keen on making a start now.

In the next couple of months, demand notices are to be issued for the year.

Misgivings

Yet, doubts remain if a third party verification serves the purpose considering that any private firm involved in the work would have to take assistance of the lower staff which could negate the effect. Such apprehensions were expressed by some officers too at a meeting held in the head office recently.

An effective alternative could be to opt for circle-level verification exercise rather than take up a gigantic exercise covering the GHMC limits in one go. A final decision would be taken after consulting the Commissioner and Special Officer C.V.S. Sarma, said Additional Commissioner (Finance) B. Ramesh Babu.

It has to find some method fast, considering that the GIS project of a comprehensive survey has made no headway after more than a few crores was sunk in. Of course, a good beginning has been made in tax collection, thanks entirely to the ongoing Compulsory Disclosure Scheme (CDS) to regularise unauthorised buildings and illegal layouts.

About Rs. 13 crore has come into kitty in the last three months with close to 50,000 properties paying the property tax. Officials said that usually not even half of this amount is collected in the first three months of the financial year and the windfall this time was because up to date payment of property tax was mandatory for getting applications processed under Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) or Layout Penalisation Scheme (LRS) of CDS.

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