E-Paper
Mohali: Avail 10% rebate on property tax by Feb 26
Chance for 4,000 assessees to clear dues or face 18% penalty
The Punjab local bodies department has allowed 10% rebate on payment of property tax arrears by February 26. Of the total 39,000 assessees in Mohali, around 4,000 are yet to pay their dues for the past several years.
Interestingly, at the top of the list of defaulters is the local police department, which has not paid a single penny to the Mohali municipal corporation (MC) ever since the latter introduced the tax in 2013-14. The arrears of the department for all police stations in Mohali, the cyber crime office, and the women cell, have thus ballooned to ₹80 lakh by the end of the last fiscal.
Even the district administrative complex in Sector 76 owes ₹20 lakh to the civic body in property tax dues of the past two years. The complex that houses the offices of senior superintendent of police (SSP), deputy commissioner, transport, revenue department, sewa kendra, food safety and others has not paid the property tax since its establishment in 2017.
The other major defaulters of property tax are the civil surgeon’s office in Phase 6 ( ₹10 lakh), Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited in Phase 6 ( ₹5 lakh) and the excise and taxation department in Sector 69 ( ₹2.5 lakh).
In 2019-20, MC collected ₹28 crore as property tax and for this year, the target is ₹30 crore.
10% REBATE TILL FEB 26, FINE AFTER
Mohali MC commissioner Kamal Kumar Garg said, “If the defaulters don’t pay the dues by February 26, an 18% penalty will be levied on payments after that. Further default will invite attaching, sealing or auction of the property.”
Garg said the tax includes both residential and commercial properties. The maximum defaulters are from Sectors 76 to 80 and industrial units in the villages, he added.
“We have recently sent a letter to the authorities concerned asking them to pay their dues, failing which we will take up the matter with the state government,” he said.
The property tax can be paid at the MC office in Sector 68. One can also log in to http://propertytax.mcmohali.org/default.aspx to pay their dues online.
