No more cheques for property tax from July 1

Starting July 1, the three municipal corporations in Delhi will stop accepting property tax payment through cheques.

Starting July 1, the three municipal corporations in Delhi will stop accepting property tax payment through cheques.

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Facing immense problems due to bounced cheques, the civic bodies have said that they will accept property tax payments only through demand draft (DD), cash or online payments.

According to officials, cheques worth about Rs. 12 crore bounced every year. While only Rs 10 crore are recovered, the process is long and cumbersome.

"Many cheques bounce and the civic bodies have to impose fines. The whole process complicates tax payments and therefore it has been decided to discontinue cheques as a mode of payment for property tax," said a source.

After the division of MCD this year, thousands of cheques were further dishonoured because they had been issued in the name of MCD. Since each new corporation will have a separate account with a different name, the cheques will have to be reissued in the name of the corporation concerned.

In 2011-2012, the unified MCD collected Rs. 772 crore as property tax. According to MCD data, 48% of tax payers in the city paid online, suggesting that people are slowly shifting towards this mode of payment.

The new corporations are offering a rebate on property tax, if it is submitted before June 30 and camps are being organised all over the city with the help of RWAs to make it easier for people to pay their tax.