Tewari, traders, residents slam UT over steep property tax hike

MP Manish Tewari, traders and city residents today criticised the UT Administration for exorbitantly increasing the property tax levied on private residential and commercial units.

Tewari stated that a table agenda to increase property tax was brought before the General House of the Municipal Corporation (MC) on February 17 and it was subsequently withdrawn before it could even be deliberated upon. “How can property tax be levied by the MC without the House being given a chance of even discussing it, much less passing it?” he questioned.

“This is tantamount to subverting the constitutional mandate of the MC House,” he said, and added that had the House rejected the table agenda, even then under Section 423 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act-1976, a show-cause notice had to be issued by the government to the House through the MC commissioner before any proceedings are annulled or modified or held to be illegal.

“What has happened is a complete travesty, if not a perverse illegality. The MC must uphold its constitutional remit and the power given to it under the Constitution of India,” he said.

Expressing strong opposition to the hike in tax on commercial properties, the Chandigarh Beopar Mandal (CBM) condemned the UT Administration and the MC’s decision, calling it “anti-commerce” and “unjustified”. CBM president Sanjeev Chadha said the hike was irrational and would harm businesses, which were already striving to survive. The CBM demanded that the UT Administrator, the MC commissioner and the Mayor reconsider the tax hike.

Baljinder Singh Bittu, chairman, Federation of Sector Welfare Associations of Chandigarh (FOSWAC), said the exorbitant increase in property tax coming right after the heavy burden of enhanced collector rates came as a bolt from the blue for city residents. “Both the Chandigarh Administration and the MC are apparently mismanaged financially. Instead of curbing their wasteful expenditure, they are unfairly burdening the residents,” he said.

FOSWAC strongly opposed the three-fold increase in property tax and demanded its immediate rollback. “If the decision is not revoked, we will have no choice but to take to the streets,” said Bittu.

The Chandigarh Resident Associations Welfare Federation (CRAWFED) also expressed strong resentment against the increase in various taxes by the civic body. CRAWFED chairman Hitesh Puri alleged that the MC coffers were empty and the Centre was sending no money. “The corporation is resorting to punishing people for its failures by drastically increasing the rates of various services without proposing any improvement in it. This has caused great resentment among both the common people and the business community.”

The Chandigarh Congress has decided to gherao the MC office on Friday to protest against the unprecedented hike in property tax. City Congress president HS Lucky said the hike was an outright exploitation of the public. He accused the local BJP unit of being complicit in the Administration’s decisions. “After an exorbitant increase in the collector rates, this sudden spike in property tax will add to the financial strain on residents. This is nothing short of daylight robbing of the residents’ hard-earned money,” said Lucky.