Delhi: Changing property ownership details for tax payment to go online

The online facility is expected to remove the need for taxpayers to visit the office multiple times and reduces the time span for the process

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation will start online ‘mutation of property’ by March 2017 to help tax payers submit documents and taxes related to a mutated property without visiting the zonal office.

Mutation of property is done for the purpose of paying taxes and it does not mean a legal title or transfer, south corporation officials clarified. (Virendra Singh Gosain/HT File)

In case of a query about the submitted documents, the department will contact them through mails or messages.

Mutation is the change of ownership in government records when the property is sold or transferred. However, the process is lengthy and takes months because it requires submitting multiple documents.

“For a property with proper sale deed it doesn’t take more than 5-7 days. But in cases where the taxpayer has no ‘sale-deed’ or has only a ‘power of attorney’, the department faces problems in accepting the property tax,” said SDMC additional commissioner, Ram Mohan Singh.

The online facility is expected to remove the need for taxpayers to visit the office multiple times and reduces the time span for the process.

“To end corruption at all levels and generate more revenue, the south corporation is working on this system. Data integration regarding properties is under process,” said SDMC mayor Shyam Sharma.

A total of 3,76,540 taxpayers deposit Rs 523 crore towards property tax — an important source of revenue for the corporation. The civic body get 3,000 cases related to property mutation a year.

However the SDMC officials clarified that mutation of property means giving a notice of the transfer/devolution of property to the government department under Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957. “It is done for the purpose of paying taxes and it does not mean a legal title/transfer in the name of person in whose name the property has been mutated in municipal records,” said a senior official.