MC serves notices on 182 defaulters

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, May 27

The Municipal Corporation has shortlisted 182 defaulters who have not paid property tax for several years and dues worth Rs 10 lakh.

Sources said the total amount of dues was around Rs 185 crore, out of which these defaulters had to pay Rs 107 crore of property tax dues. The corporation has expedited the recovery process and notices have been served on the defaulters.

“There are big institutes that have huge pending dues, including National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), which has to pay the corporation Rs 33 crore. Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI) has Rs 4.81 crore pending, Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban, Rs 10 crore, and an extension centre of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, Uchani, Rs 3.7 crore. However, they are claiming tax exemption,” said Sumedha Kataria, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation.

She said even after several notices, they had failed to produce a letter of exemption. “If they have any document from the Government of India or the state government about the exemption of the property tax, they should produce it to the office,” she said.

Apart from these big institutes, there are several households and educational institutes on the list. She said there were 1,36,304 units, including industrial, commercial and residential that pay property tax. Out of these units, only 2,500 had filed their self-assessment form of property tax by December 2014.