Hundreds of crores of rupees in interest and penalties on pending property tax payments will be waived till 31 March, the South Corporation announced in a meeting of standing committee on Friday.

Presenting the revised budget estimates 2017-18 and budget estimates 2018-19, standing committee chairman Bhupender Gupta said that the amnesty scheme for waiver of hundred per cent penalties and interest amount on property tax arrears would continue till 31 March this year. The civic body move is aimed to encourage people to start paying taxes, he clarified. “The amnesty scheme 2017-18 in unauthorised colonies, villages and urbanised villages for waiver of 100 per cent interest and 100 per cent penalty will be extended upto 31 March 2018. Unauthorised regularised colonies may also be included in the ambit of the amnesty scheme,” said the chairman.

After the unit area method of computing property tax was introduced in 2004, the corporation is not known to have collected any money from unauthorised colonies. Officials claimed that if these properties were brought under the tax net, the civic body would earn an additional Rs 10 crore annually. Waiving the penalty, however, would cause it a one-time loss of Rs 40 crore.

According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, all properties under SDMC jurisdiction have to pay property tax. However, sources said, due to political intervention and after the introduction of the unit area method, there had been no income for the corporation from unauthorised colonies. There are around eight lakh properties spread over 1,100 unauthorised colonies under SDMC jurisdiction. Overall, while there are 16 lakh properties under the corporation, the civic body has managed to bring only 4.4 lakh in the tax net.

It also announced for the withdrawal of the proposed hike in property tax rates on residential properties. Property tax on non-residential properties may be levied on the basis of categories of colonies instead of group of buildings at 20 per cent on annual value in A to F categories and 15 per cent in G to H categories. Mutation fee may also be hiked from Rs 150 to 1500.

“Remission of full property tax in respect of one property of a martyr from armed and paramilitary forces will be allowed. Similarly, regular safai karamcharis will be facilitated.”
The chairman said that the assessment of property would be done on the basis of declaration made by the owner in respect of year of purchase of property. Presently the claim is being sent in respect of such properties since 2004.

The civic body has announced for the free booking of AC and non-AC community centres for the marriage of daughter of the martyrs of armed and paramilitary forces.
Poor women and members of the washermen community will also be given one cooking gas stove and one five kg LPG cylinder instead of sewing machine and ‘dhobi press’ being distributed presently.