Shimla MC names and shames defaulters of property tax

Tribune News Service

Subhash Rajta

Shimla, May 9

Shimla Municipal Corporation has resorted to naming and shaming of property tax defaulters. With around 7.83 crore tax to be realised from around 4,500 properties till March 31, the MC has displayed the names of the defaulters on its website.

“The idea behind putting up these names on the website was to push them into paying up their pending tax,” said MC Commissioner Ashish Kohli.

“And if these people still don’t pay up, the MC will consider taking legal action against them,” warned Kohli.

According to MC officials, the majority of the defaulters have not paid up over the last 4-5 years. Faced with such reluctance, the MC took the decision to make the names public. Most of the tax is due from commercial properties, the amount due from residential properties isn’t much,” said Kohli.

The ploy appears to have worked to some extent as some defaulters have started approaching the MC. “A few people have paid up after the names were displayed on the website. Also people are calling up to remove their names from the list, assuring they would pay up soon. Our recovery rate is around 85 per cent, it’s just around 15 per cent cases where people have to be pushed,” he said.

Property tax is the main source of income for MC from its sources. The generally cash-strapped civic body hopes to collect around Rs 20 crore through this tax, though the actual realisation is much less. “The MC earns Rs 25 to 30 crore annually from its own sources, with the lion’s share coming from property tax,” said Kohli.

The amount is minuscule considering that MC spends around Rs 70 crore only on salary and pension of its employees. While almost every MC has limited revenue-generating resources and functions primarily on government grants, generating higher income from its resources would only help. The MC had proposed levying green tax on vehicles from outside the state, but the proposal hasn’t seen light of the day yet.

Rs 7.8 cr pending

• Around 7.83 crore tax is to be realised from around 4,500 properties till March 31
• Most of the tax is pending from owners of commercial properties

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