Rs 240-crore house tax pending in Faridabad

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, November 17

With dues of Rs 240 crore as property tax pending, the municipal corporation (MC) has warned to take up a sealing drive against defaulters.

A spokesperson of the MC said that a meeting held in this regard on Friday has resolved to start sealing of the defaulters’ properties, who owe Rs 50,000 or more, and whose owners fail to deposit the dues within the allotted time period after a final notice.

It is claimed that while the total pending amount on April 1 had been Rs 271 crore, it has now reduced to Rs 240 crore after the recovery of Rs 31 crore made till November 12.

Of the total pending dues, the recovery of Rs 71 crore appears to be a tough nut to crack as the defaulters are government departments and 29 villages falling in the municipal limits.

However, according to officials concerned, the drive would be focused on the recovery of Rs 120 crore pending towards some big private concerns.

The sealing drive taken up in the recent years have shown positive results and that would be taken up again as it was the last option left to make recoveries, said an official.

“Though the MC had recovered property tax of Rs 62 crore in 2018-19, it aims to achieve more than that of last year till March 31, 2020,” said Rattan Rohilla, Zonal Taxation Officer, who claimed that defaulters would face attachment, sealing and imposition of penalty under the provisions of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act 1994.

He, however, said that 100 per cent interest waiver would be provided to those who deposit the pending dues (since April 2010-11) in one go. An additional rebate of 10 per cent would be given for the tax deposited for the current year (2019-20), it is added.

Faridabad has over 2.6 lakh property units and the annual share of property tax in its income is around Rs 40 crore.