Tribune News Service Amritsar July 13 A review meeting of property tax was conducted with zonal superintendents on the directions of Commissioner Municipal Corporation of Amritsar (MCA) Malwinder Singh Jaggi on Tuesday. It was headed by Additional Commissioner Sandip Rishi. In the meeting the authorities found a major difference between the actual tax figure and amount deposited as property tax by the owners of several commercial buildings after self-assessment during the last fiscal. “We have fixed the recovery target of superintendents. They have to collect Rs42.50 crore. They were asked to approach the building owners and press them to deposit the property tax. They were instructed to issue the recovery notices and seal the property of defaulters. The review meeting would be conducted every fortnight” said Rishi. In the last few months the MC served around 75 notices to various commercial buildings after scrutinising their property tax record and visiting the buildings physically. Though there has been no recovery of actual tax so far the hearing of these cases is still going on. Sandip Rishi Additional Commissioner of MC said: “Earlier the superintendents were sending notices after scrutiny but now I have collected all files and we are pursuing all these cases. Generally when we send notice to some building owner about incorrect assessment of tax he often contests the case. We are conducting hearings of these building owners who are challenging the notices. The actual amount of the tax would be recovered after satisfying them.” According to information a few major shopping malls in the city are under scanner as the MC found major anomalies with self-assessment of property tax. Property owners paying less tax During the scrutiny of property tax paid for the period of 2020-21 the MC found a difference of Rs12.33 lakh between the tax paid by a private hospital at Ranjit Avenue and the actual tax amount. The hospital had to pay Rs318087 as property tax for 2021 but it paid only Rs71307 for this period. The MC officials said the hospital made incorrect self-assessment in the last five years. Similarly a three storey building owner at Ajnala Road paid Rs7371 for 2020-21. The actual amount to be paid was Rs90125. The MC asked the building owner to pay Rs82754 for this year and also the pending amount from 2014-15. Sealing drive mere eyewash? The property tax wing of the Municipal Corporation has failed to achieve the recovery targets for the last several years. A large number of property owners are not paying tax. Not only residential commercial buildings and shops in the main markets of the city are also not paying the property tax. The sealing drive of the MC always proves an eyewash as their recovery targets are never fulfilled. The MC General House had set Rs42.5 crore as recovery target of property tax for 2021-22.

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