New Delhi, Mar 27: Desperate to increase collection of house tax, the main source of its revenue, the MCD has warned defaulters that they may face prosecution and property attachment if they do not clear dues by this month-end.
Issuing a public notice, the civic agency has pointed out to the citizens that the last date for paying property tax of earlier years and the current year is March 31 and clearance of dues by that date will ensure 100 per cent waiver of interest and penalty on pending tax.
The Municipal Corporation has been running two schemes for settlement of ex-parte assessments under old system of assessment (rateable value) as well as the new system (unit area method) -- both of which will expire in March-end.
The notice said in case of failure to clear property tax arrears and current dues by March 31, citizens will face interest at 1 per cent per month of tax unpaid for delayed payment, penalty of 30 per cent of tax unpaid, rigorous imprisonment and fine of not less than 50 per cent amount of the tax evaded and attachment of movable and immovable properties and their auction.
The cash-strapped civic body is keen to collect more property tax, which is its main source of revenue. The collection has been below the initial target this financial year, prompting the civic body to revise the target.
The old RV system continued till March 31, 2004 after which the unit area method was introduced from April 1, 2004. There are about one lakh cases pending under the old system.
In the RV system, the capital value of the property was used to be taken into account while in the unit area method, value is assigned to colonies rather than individual properties. PTI
