Councillor opposes interest, penalty imposed on widows, others Harshraj Singh Ludhiana, September 12 A number of persons, including widows, who have been granted annual exemption up to Rs 5,000 on property tax, are getting notices through which they are asked to pay penalty and interest for not filing tax returns timely. A BJP councillor raised questions over the MC method of calculating penalty and interest in the context of these persons who have been given exemption and their gross property tax is below Rs 5,000. The MC officials claim that even if a person is eligible for exemption he is supposed to file the annual property tax return timely, and if he doesn’t, he is supposed to pay penalty and interest. “A widow had filed her property tax return in 2013, but she did not file any later because she has now been given annual exemption up to Rs 5,000. Now, the MC has issued a notice directing her to pay penalty and interest for not filing her property tax returns till 2019. For the financial year 2014-15, her gross property tax was Rs 750 which was lower than the exemption amount of up to Rs 5,000 per financial year. Thus, she was not supposed to pay any amount to the MC. As she had filed no ‘nil’ property tax return, the MC has imposed penalty and interest of Rs 862 on her. It is totally wrong and a probe must be conducted,” said Manju Aggarwal, councillor from Ward 57. “There are many such cases where persons eligible for exemption are being forced to pay penalty and interest. When the property tax was introduced during the SAD-BJP government, the Congress had opposed it. The Congress had even promised before the polls that it would withdraw property tax. But the people eligible for exemption are being forced to pay penalty and interest during the Congress rule. I have also sent a memorandum to the Mayor to waive such penalties and interest,” she said. A resident said: “Many people are unaware about the rules but the civic body never bothered about creating awareness on filing of returns. Now, we are getting notices of penalty and interest.” Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in MC House Harbhajan Singh Dang said there were also many people who had not paid their property tax. He said they had requested Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu to raise their demand before the government to waive penalty and interest on property tax for all.

Stay updated with all the Latest Ludhiana headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.