Gurgaon: Unitech Vistas gate sealed over property tax default

The project was to be delivered to homebuyers by December 2012

Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) sealed a gate of the under-construction Unitech Vistas project in Sector 70 on Tuesday, as the developer allegedly defaulted on property tax worth ₹13.06 lakh .

MCG officials clarified that although the project is under construction, the developer has to make property tax payment on the plot size. (Parveen Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“The builder associated with the Unitech Vistas project in Sector 70 have property tax dues worth ₹13.06 lakh. They had been sent repeated notices to clear their dues. However, owing to non-compliance, our officials were directed to seal the establishment,” Gaurav Antil, joint commissioner, MCG, said.

MCG officials clarified that although the project is under construction, the developer has to make property tax payment on the plot size. It is only when the apartments are allotted to owners that property tax is tabulated and levied on building owners.

Unitech officials did not respond to calls and texts for its response in the matter.

On September 20, the Supreme Court ordered Unitech to pay ₹80,000 as compensation and litigation charges to 39 homebuyers of the Vistas project owing to delay in handover of possession.

A day later, the apex court stated that they will auction assets of Unitech for recovering the money of homebuyers who are yet to get possession of their apartments.

Read I Door-to-door collection of property tax, other utility fee in Gurgaon starts today

The Vistas project was supposed to be delivered to homebuyers by December 2012.

The project is located along the Southern Peripheral Road and compromises over 1,300 apartments spread across 23 towers with 14 floors each.

In 2017, the MCG collected over ₹500 crore in property tax dues after introducing multiple rebate schemes.

On October 31, in a first for Haryana, MCG officials auctioned four properties (including commercial sites) of tax defaulters and procured ₹4 crore in bidding amount.

The MCG recovered its dues and transferred the remaining amount to the original owner of the property, while the right to ownership of the property was transferred to the winning bidder.