Impose house tax in city: Solanki

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 1

UT Administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki has asked Mayor Poonam Sharma, Deputy Mayor Gurbax Rawat and BJP Leader of the Opposition Arun Sood to revise the house tax rates and impose these in the city.

In the last financial year (2014-15), the UT Administration did not issue any notification on house tax.

At a meeting with the Mayor and MC and UT officials at the Haryana Raj Bhawan today, Solanki asked the Mayor to impose house tax. At the meeting, UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev also said the present house tax rate of Rs 1 per sq yard was not enough and it should be increased.

Sources said the UT Administration was planning to impose house tax rates on the market value of properties, depending upon their location.

The Mayor, Deputy Mayor and the BJP Leader of the Opposition, however, opposed the house tax proposal. The trio submitted before the UT Administrator that there was no such need to implement house tax in the city. Besides, the UT should first give the MC its due share of revenue. Besides, the UT Administration should seek the views of political parties, resident welfare associations, traders, industrialists and CHB allottees. House tax should be implemented only with the consent of the city residents, the trio submitted. Former UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil was also in favour of increasing the house tax.

In October last year, the general house of the MC had rejected the agenda to revise the house tax rates.

In its recent report, the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission had also pulled up the UT Administration and the MC for their failure to revise the house tax rates.