800 flat owners 'untraceable' for property tax assessment in Solan

Ambika Sharma

Solan, April 6

Nearly 40 per cent of the house owners residing in flats were not available for tax evaluation in the Solan Municipal Corporation. About 800 flat owners could not be located by the civic body, which had been undertaking the assessment of the property tax on revised rates since September last year.

The team assessing the tax found the flats closed despite its repeated visits. It was known that the flats located in various areas of the city like Railway Road, Deonghat, Mall Road, Shamti etc. were bought by outsiders who used the apartments for a few weeks in summer, leaving them unoccupied for the rest of the year.

Public notices to be issued

• Nearly 40 per cent of the house owners residing in flats were not available for tax evaluation in the Solan Municipal Corporation.
• About 800 flat owners could not be located by the civic body, which had been undertaking the assessment of property tax on revised rates since September last year
• The team assessing the tax found the flats closed despite repeated visits. It was known that the flats located in various areas of the city like Railway Road, Deonghat, Mall Road, Shamti, etc., were bought by outsiders who used the apartments for a few weeks in summer, leaving them unoccupied for the rest of the year
• Additional Commissioner of the Solan MC, Priyanka Chandra, said that 800 flat owners were not available for tax assessment, and public notices would be issued to make them aware so that they could get their property rates assessed

The tax assessment process, which takes into consideration the size of each property, has been completed in the remaining 1,300 houses. The finalised tax rates would be notified through the e-Sampatti portal of the Urban Development Department, which will take into consideration the size, cost and location of the property.

Additional Commissioner of the Solan MC, Priyanka Chandra, said that 800 flat owners were not available for tax assessment, and public notices would be issued to make them aware so that they could get their property rates assessed.

She added that two mop-up rounds had also been conducted to facilitate the process for those not available to get the assessment done and also to compare the survey. The process is likely to be completed within the next few weeks, following which the revised tax bills would be served to the residents.

The MC took the help of computer-literate women from self-help groups to feed the information into the e-Sampatti portal, which would help in the generation of bills.

The Solan MC had undertaken a drone-based survey through the Aryabhatta Geo-informatics and Space Application Centre to assess the new property tax. The survey, which began in September 2023, used the unit area method to assess the revised tax.

A Majority of the state government offices will also be liable to pay this tax, while offices of the Central Government have been exempted from this tax as per the norms.

According to the revised rates, tax up to 25 per cent has been imposed on commercial and domestic properties by considering factors like location, structure, age and occupancy of a building.

The MC earned Rs 4.73 crore annually as property tax under the old rate.