Concerns over rating parameters

The deadline for submitting suggestions and objections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over the proposed capital value-based property tax system ended on Tuesday.

The deadline for submitting suggestions and objections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) over the proposed capital value-based property tax system ended on Tuesday. The BMC received 215 objections.

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Officials said most of the objections raised two major concerns — the system would take into account the property’s built-up area and not the carpet area, and the use of the ready reckoner to value the property. The objections will be handed over to a three-member committee on property tax, comprising former municipal commissioner DM Sukhtankar, retired bureaucrat DN Chaudhary and architect Roshan Nanavati. They will study each objection and decide if the system should be changed.

The committee is expected to draft a report within 10 days. The BMC hopes to implement the system from March 2011, with retrospective effect from April 2010.

A senior civic official said: “Most objections pertained to built-up area being considered, while others protested against ready reckoner rates being the yardstick. The problem is that the Stamp Duty Act says the ready reckoner should be referred to. So, we won’t be able to heed either of these suggestions.”

The official said there might be some changes. “We also received a few suggestions that said the system should not apply to old, rented properties, mostly in the island city. There were also requests to change the weightage accorded to certain factors. Such changes are likely to happen, if the committee agrees,” he said.