BJP seeks waiver of pending property tax interest

BJP councillor Aggarwal demanded that penalty and interest waiver should also be announced for those whose payment was pending since 2013-14

Former Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) councillor and in-charge of BJP local bodies cell Inder Aggarwal submitted a memorandum with mayor Balkar Sandhu at MC Zone A office on Friday and sought a complete waiver of penalty and interest on pending property tax under the one-time settlement (OTS) policy floated by local bodies department.

Former BJP councillor and in-charge of BJP local bodies cell Inder Aggarwal sought a complete waiver of penalty and interest on pending property tax under the OTS policy floated by local bodies department (Representative photo)

Notifying the OTS policy on September 15, the local bodies department had earlier announced a 10% rebate on payment of pending tax since the year 2013-14 by November 30. However, penalty and interest waivers were announced only for the defaulters pertaining to the year 2020-21. The defaulters pertaining to the period starting from 2013-14 to 2019-20 were provided a 10% rebate on the outstanding amount including penalty and interest.

Citing the financial crisis being faced by the residents due to the ongoing pandemic, Aggarwal demanded that penalty and interest waiver should also be announced for those whose payment was pending since 2013-14.

As per the MC officials, the officials stated that over 92,000 property owners had failed to pay tax since 2013-14. Out of these, over 23,700 defaulters pertain to the year 2019-20. In total, the defaulters have to pay around ₹14 crore (excluding interest and penalty) to the MC.

Aggarwal demanded that the matter should be taken up at the state level.

Mayor Sandhu said, “We will table the demand in front of the local bodies department. The final decision will be taken at the state level.”