House tax notices irk Panchkula villagers, want these withdrawn

Sanjay Bumbroo
Tribune News Service
Panchkula, October 19

The Panchkula Municipal Corporation (MC) has sent house tax notices to residents of 42 village panchayats in Kalka, Pinjore and Barwala blocks of the district, causing resentment. 

 Terming the notices illegal, the residents demanded that these be taken back as the civic body had failed to provide road connectivity and sewerage connection to them.

Vijay Bansal, vice-president of the farmers’ wing of the Haryana Congress, along with former councillors Satinder Soni, met MC Commissioner Rajesh Jogpal. They submitted a memorandum, urging to withdraw the notices. 

Satinder Soni said the Panchkula Municipal Corporation was formed by the Local Bodies Department on March 17, 2010, after merging civic bodies of Panchkula, Kalka and Pinjore besides 42 village panchayats in the district by issuing a notification. He said the villages in 42 panchayats and around 50 illegal colonies did not have the basic facilities like safe drinking water, sewerage, street lights and community centres. He further said the coroporation had now issued notices to people to pay house tax, which was totally unconstitutional.

Vijay Bansal said as per Section 413 of the Municipal Coroporation Act, there was a special provision for the rural areas, so no house tax could be recovered from people.  He said in 2011, they had represented the case to the then Local Bodies Minister Savitri Jindal after which the state government had decided not to charge any house tax from residents in rural areas.

Bansal said  houses of the residents fell under the Shivalik Hill area and in 1993, the state government had constituted the Shivalik Vikas Board for the development of backward areas of the district. 

He said most of the development works in the villages were carried out with the panchayat funds so the decision to charge house tax from the residents in the rural areas and 50 illegal colonies was unconstitutional.