Hyderabad: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been turning a blind eye to 1,78,701 non-residential properties since three financial years. The corporation has missed Rs 900.33 crores from commercial properties and Rs 503.1 crores from residential properties due to official apathy. This came to light in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on March 29.
The corporation had claimed that it had done data purification and enhanced property tax collection to Rs 1,321 crores from Rs 1,205 crores. However, the corporation took a ‘U’ turn and wrote to the government about the Rs 900.33 crores that was missing since the three financial years. The GHMC did not provide clear information for being lax in collection of penalties from property tax defaulters.
The CAG report said that from non-residential properties, an amount of Rs 900.33 crores was pending for more than three years from 1,78,701 assessments. Clarifying on the CAG report, the GHMC wrote to the government that the arrears in the civic body were not purified and the arrears include non-collectable demand i.e., demolished buildings, road widening affected portions, duplicate assessments, court cases, sick units i.e. closed industries etc. The corporation claimed that the interest component accumulates to the arrears every year which leads to inflation of non-residential demand.
The corporation also wrote in order to classify the non-collectable demand- the arrears that have exceeded time-limit (arrears that have accumulated more than three years), court cases, double property tax registration numbers (PTINs), demolished buildings and constructed apartments, building demolished and now open plots, building demolished and now under construction, road widening affected buildings and sick unit / fully closed establishments.
The CAG report also said that the GHMC did not ensure strict compliance with regard to enforcement of penal provisions for delay or non-payment of property tax.
The GHMC was also blamed for being lax in collection of penalties from property tax defaulters. There is Rs 1,403.43 crores total arrears from residential and non-residential properties as on March 2017.
Replying to the query, the GHMC clarified to the government that the property tax dues, including the levy of penal interest at two per cent per month is done automatically on all arrears at the end of the property tax online database.
