Sajag Nagrik Manch (SNM), an organisation based in the city, has criticised the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) administration for “not putting extra efforts” to recover Rs 3,330 crore of property tax dues from 1,065 owners having over Rs 1 crore annual property tax.
It claimed that PMC has, however, been burdening regular tax payers by withdrawing a discount of 40 per cent and also increasing the tax rate every year. The manch has procured details of property tax dues of those having an annual tax of over Rs 1 crore. “The information collected was shocking. It shows that 1,065 tax payers have total dues of Rs 3,330 crore, with 71 taxpayers having total dues of Rs 737 crore — who have filed objections over the same in the court. Among these people, two cases have a total due of Rs 432 crore,” said Vivek Welankar from SNM. A total of 660 cases of mobile towers with a total due of Rs 1,419 crore have been pending in the court, Welankar said.
“The Civic Legal, and Property Tax departments have been asked to set up a dedicated cell for resolving these cases at the earliest. Even if half the cases were in favour of the PMC, the civic body would have a recovery of Rs 1,000 crore.”
The PMC has said that 105 cases amounting to Rs 352 crore are over complaints of double-entry in the record books, Welankar said, adding that the civic administration needs to verify this and resolve the complaints.
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PremiumSimilarly, 108 cases amounting to Rs 344 crore dues were related to disputes. Moreover, the property tax defaulter list also includes Rs 59 crore from various Defence establishments, Rs 29 crore from the Maharashtra power utility, and Rs 68.49 crore from the state Irrigation department.
According to Welankar, PMC should recover the irrigation department’s dues via water charges paid to them every year. The Pune civic body has urged the state irrigation department to adjust the amount via charges from the PMC three years ago, but nothing has been done so far.
PMC — which has withdrawn the 40 per cent discount facility for residential properties in the city — has also been increasing the tax amount every year, without putting much effort to recover dues from the big defaulters, Welankar added.
