Property tax defaulters to pay 100% penalty to Ludhiana civic body

In order to catch hold of property tax defaulterswho either did not pay their tax or deposited a lesser amount, civic officials are going to kick off a survey to check the records of more than 3,000 properties in the city, including big factories, malls, and other commercial units. If MC teams find discrepancies in the payment of tax, defaulters will then have to pay up 100% penalty to the civic body.

In the first phase, MC picked up those 3,547 properties from whom it was recovering around Rs 25,000 until 2012-13, before the imposition of property tax. Property tax was introduced in 2013-14, so officials will check records from 2013 to 2018 of these properties in all the four zones. They will make site visits and check whether owners of properties provided correct information about collector rate, total area of their property, and other information. In case they find foul play in any of the records, then there is provision of imposing 100% penalty on defaulters.

Officials in the property tax headquarters have requested zonal commissioners to frame block-wise teams in their zones to send them for checking records and getting the actual picture, to verify whether proper returns have been filed or not. MC property tax superintendent Vivek Verma said zonal commissioners would frame block-level committees for checking property tax returns filed in the past five years. He said they have been given 15 days to complete the process, adding that since property tax was based on self-assessment, they have been given powers to scrutinize tax returns.