Property tax: Nearly Rs 3 crore recovered in last two months by Jalandhar MC

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 14

The Municipal Corporation has recovered a total of Rs2.85 crore as property tax from defaulters in the city in the last two months. The recovered amount is from May 21, 2020, when the department started working after the lockdown.

From May 21 to June 30, the corporation recovered Rs2.05 crore under one-time settlement scheme and from July 1 until now, it has recovered Rs75 lakh.

Bhupinder Singh, superintendent, property tax department, said a meeting was held by the Joint Commissioner on Tuesday, in which she appealed to the general public to make sure that they deposit the property tax till July 31 under one-time settlement scheme.

In November last year, a scheme had come, under which those persons who had failed to deposit the house tax or property tax, could deposit the principal amount in lump sum with rebate at the rate of 10 per cent of the amount being deposited as a one-time settlement.

Earlier, the deadline of the policy was till March, but after the lockdown was imposed, the deadline was extended till July 31.

According to the order, people who still fail to deposit the due amount as stated above within the period and the manner specified, will be liable to pay a penalty at the rate of 20 per cent on the amount due along with interest at the rate of 18 per cent from the date it became due till the date of its realisation.

Under the procedure of taking action against defaulters, the inspectors of the property tax wing first visit the areas to recover the tax. The defaulters who have not paid the tax are served notice under Section 112, to which they have to give a reply within three days, failing which another notice of sealing the property is served under Section 138.

“The department is also conducting survey nowadays. If anyone fails to deposit the property tax until July 31, strict action will be taken against the defaulter. Once the property is sealed, it will only be handed over to the owner after the payment is made,” the superintendent said.