MC’s no to disclosing names of property tax defaulters under RTI

Even as the defaulters of property tax are bleeding the civic body financially, the municipal corporation has refused to provide the list of defaulters under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

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RK Garg, a social activist and president, Second Innings Association, had sought a list of government departments which had not paid property tax for years. He sought the list along with pending amounts against these departments from the tax department of the MC. Garg said the department refused to provide the information.

He said that the department had disposed of his application filed under the RTI Act while observing that the information in question form could not be provided under the Act. He said that the reply of the MC was shocking. He said that no specific reason had been given for not providing the information, which he had sought in public interest. He said that while the MC had enhanced the rates of the property tax and burdened the common man, it was not taking any action against the defaulters, due to which people of the city were suffering.

He said that instead of concealing the names of the defaulters, the MC must name and shame them. The civic body MC must publish the names of the defaulters in newspapers and put the list on its official website

He said that while the MC was not providing the names of the defaulters, it was not sparing the common man and imposing a penalty in case of delay. The MC has refused the information at the time when the outstanding amount of property tax has crossed over Rs 200 crore.

While the residents are paying the property tax regularly, big defaulters like PGI and Panjab University and other departments are not doing the same. Many departments of Punjab, Haryana and UT are also not paying the tax for different reasons. The MC is presently grappling with a severe financial crunch. All development projects have come to a standstill and no new project is launched. Even road carpeting projects have been put on hold due to a lack of funds.