North Delhi Civic body exempts houses of less than 50sqm area from property tax net

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Friday exempted housing units measuring up to 50 square metres from paying property tax, a move that officials said will benefit over three lakh housing units under its jurisdiction

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Friday exempted housing units measuring up to 50 square metres from paying property tax, a move that officials said will benefit over three lakh housing units under its jurisdiction.The proposal was presented and approved in the corporation’s House meeting on Friday.

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Leader of the House (LOH) Chhail Bihari Goswami, who proposed the scheme in the House, said, “All residential properties up to 50 square metres including those living in approved colonies, rural areas and even unauthorised colonies, will be exempt from paying house tax to the corporation. Though we are trying to implement the scheme from this year itself, the notification will take time. That said, it will certainly come into effect from the next financial year. In this case, these house owners will have to pay the tax for just the current financial year,”said Goswami.

He added that the scheme has been proposed in order to provide relief to the economically weaker sections who have been hit the hardest because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

When asked about the fund shortage, Goswami said that several measures have been taken over the years to boost the corporation’s revenue. “Even in the past year, we managed to generate extra revenue of ₹250 crore by introducing different methods such as extending the coverage of property taxpayers, auctioning of parking lots etc. We will manage to earn as much revenue. At this point, providing economic relief to people is of utmost importance,” he said.

Among the other decisions taken during the House meeting include waiving off pending property tax for all commercial properties in unauthorised colonies for past few years. “These property owners are required to pay the tax just for the current and the previous financial years while the rest will be waived off. A notification to this regard will be issued soon,” said Goswami.

Besides, all residential properties in unauthorised colonies and houses in rural areas (those falling under Lal Dora and Lal Dora Extension) have also been extended relief. “They will just have to pay the property tax for the current financial year,” he added.

The corporation has also rolled back the property tax rates hiked for commercial properties last year based on the recommendations of the Municipal Evaluation Committee-III. “This is applicable to all commercial properties under the civic body. They will have to pay the tax as per previously existing rates,” the LOH said.

He added that the schemes will help business hit by the pandemic.