Panipat MC prepares list of 440 property tax defaulters

The Municipal Corporation (MC), Panipat, has prepared a list of 440 property tax defaulters, including government departments, who owe over Rs 66.21 crore to the civic body for many years. The MC has now begun serving notices to these defaulters.

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There are a total of 1.89 lakh units, including residential, commercial, industrial, mix-use, educational and government departments, in Panipat.

The MC had set a target to recover Rs 34 crore as property tax in the 2024-25 fiscal year. But, it has recovered only about Rs 5 crore so far, which is just 14 per cent of the set target.

However, the MC had collected a total of Rs 29.72 crore in the 2023-24 financial year, which was the highest in the history of the civic body. The MC had recovered Rs 15.27 crore in 2022-23 against the set target of Rs 40 crore.

Now, taking a stringent note over the slow recovery, the MC has decided to pace up the recovery. The property tax branch prepared a list of 440 big defaulters, including government departments, which owed more than Rs 93 crore of property tax.

The MC has served notices to around 39 defaulters so far, which collectively owe Rs 66.21 crore to it. As per details, these defaulters include educational institutes, hospital, shopping mall, industries, Kisan Bhawan, Khadi Ashram, community centre, Kamalia Bhawan and several builder companies.

Apart from these, several government departments owe crores of rupees of property tax to the MC. These include the Police Department (Rs 84 lakh), Railways (Rs 70 lakh), Civil Hospital (Rs 35 lakh), power corporation and Forest Department (Rs 8 lakh).

As per the record, the biggest defaulter in the list of 39 defaulters is a shopping mall in Ward 14, which owes Rs 34.78 crore property tax to the MC.

Mani Tyagi, Joint Commissioner, MC, said an amount of Rs 5 crore of property tax had been recovered.

“We have a total of 1.89 lakh units in the MC area and notices would be served to all. To distribute the property tax notices, a tender would be invited, which is under process. A list of 440 defaulters has been prepared and notices are being served upon them,” the Joint Commissioner added.

Joint Commissioner Mani Tyagi also appealed to the residents to deposit the tax on priority.

“The MC has served notices to the defaulters for the second time, if they don’t deposit the tax, sealing action would be launched against them,” said the Joint Commissioner.