Hike in property tax peeves residents
Hundreds of residents of Golf Link Society, Jorbagh, Chanakyapuri and Babar Road are planning to knock the Supreme Courts door after they received a notice issued by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) on March 28 for depositing a hefty sum as property tax as per the proposed amendment to the Assessment List for the year 2018-2019. The residents of over 800 kothis and bungalows in the area, who paid Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh as property tax annually for 2017-18 by the unitary method introduced by the NDMC in 2009, will now have to shell out Rs 30 lakh to Rs 40 lakh as property tax, depending upon the per square foot covered area of the property at a comparable rent of Rs 126.30 per square foot per month as per the NDMC Act, 1994 if the provisional proposal of house tax 2018-19 will be amended. The NDMC notice, a copy of which is with the media, said: "This is to inform you that the assessment list for the year 2018-19 is proposed to be amended as per the details and reasons given hereunder and if you wish to file any objection in this connection, you may submit your objections in this office in writing so that is received in this office not later than 35 days from the date of receipt of this notice. If no objection is received with the aforesaid time, it shall be presumed that you have no objection to the proposed amendment." The residents of Golf Link are in touch with the advocates to challenge NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar against the proposed amendment which they termed as a "tughlaqifarmaan" (dictatorial order). The residents also alleged that there were around 200 NDMC flats in the Golf Link Society, from which no property tax was generated. The residents said that they had filed a petition in the Delhi High Court in 2016 when property tax was hiked by Rs 1,800 per square metre. The court at that time had termed the NDMC order as "null and void." Later the NDMC challenged the high court verdict before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, in its order dated January 22, 2019, quashed the NDMC appeal and said that house tax collection should based on the unitary method.
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