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At ₹16 crore, PU tops list of property tax defaulters in Chandigarh
Of the five major defaulters, Panjab University tops the list as it owes ₹16 crore from different buildings; government buildings under Capital Project Division of the UT administration owe ₹9.30 crore; PGIMER owes ₹ 7 crore, while Punjab Engineering College, Sector 12, and Chandigarh Railway station owe ₹2.3 crore each
The municipal corporation already has issued tax default notices to around 1,000 government and commercial buildings in Chandigarh to recover property tax to the tune of ₹148 crore and MC commissioner Anindita Mitra has written to the authorities concerned, asking them to clear the tax, failing which action will be initiated.
Of the five major defaulters, Panjab University tops the list as it owes ₹16 crore from different buildings; government buildings under Capital Project Division of the UT administration owe ₹9.30 crore; PGIMER owes ₹ 7 crore, while Punjab Engineering College, Sector 12, and Chandigarh Railway station owe ₹2.3 crore each.
Mitra said government buildings are also liable to pay service charge at 75% of the property tax as per provisions of the tax bylaws framed under the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act as extended to Chandigarh. “Letters have been issued to the heads of government building and we have asked them to clear the tax, failing which action will be initiated within two weeks,” she said.
The civic body started levying property tax on commercial land and buildings with effect from November 22, 2004. There are around 23,000 commercial units, including government buildings, falling within MC limits. The property tax on residential land and buildings, also known as house tax, was imposed from 2015-16 onwards, except for properties with covered area of less than 500 square feet.
Five major defaulters
Panjab University, Sector 14
Total outstanding amount: ₹16 crore
After a notice was served to PU in 2021, the university had submitted a representation to MC, wherein they had stated that the varsity is not liable to pay property tax on various grounds. MC had also served notices to PU in 2022 over the pending property tax and told the varsity to vacate the premises of various blocks.
PU registrar YP Verma, said, “The university has been asked to pay property tax since 2004, but the letter was received by PU a few years back. PU is paying service charges regularly and there is some clarification pending with MC regarding total area being taxed on the campus and waiver for PU being a public university. The university has represented the case and meetings are being held with MC to sort out the issue.”
Capital project division of UT administration
Total outstanding amount: ₹9.3 crore
Thre are around 700 government buildings under this division including police stations, government schools and anganwadi centres.
UT chief engineer CB Ojha, said, “Tax on some buildings has been paid, but for other buildings, reconciliation of the amount is underway. As per our record, MC has imposed more tax than what is due. Once the amount is reconciled, we will clear the dues.”
PGIMER, Sector 12
Total outstanding amount: ₹8 crore
Kumar Gaurav Dhawan, official spokesperson of PGIMER, said, “The institute has been regularly paying the property tax to MC. We have written to the civic body and requested them to reconcile their data on overdue amount and the period for which the amount is pending. We will cross check the same from PGIMER records and all the dues, which will be overdue after reconciliation of the data, will be cleared.”.
Chandigarh railway station
Total outstanding amount: ₹2.3 crore
Mandeep Singh Bhatia, divisional railway manager, Ambala division, said he is not aware of any such pending dues.
Punjab Engineering College, Sector 12
Total outstanding amount: ₹2.3 crore
PEC director Baldev Setia, said, “We had written to civic body seeking waiver of the tax as PEC is the UT’s property.”
