PMC passes off error as routine 'rounding off' practice

Jt Municipal Commissioner says 'faulty' calculation method doesn't lead to much discrepancy, loss or gain in tax minimal

A fundamental mathematical mistake while calculating property tax is was a minor issue that simply works in favour of or against some property holders, according to Joint Municipal Commissioner and chief auditor Ambarish Galinde. Reacting to MiD DAY's report yesterday (Property tax: PMC goofing up inches-to-feet conversion), Galinde opined that the difference in the total area counted was not much, and even if it were to be corrected, it would not earn the civic body much more revenue that it had "possibly lost".


MiD DAY reported yesterday how the PMC was erring in its calculation
of property area

"Converting the dimensions to feet is not really required. Rounding off figures is a common practice and the maximum difference even if it were calculated after converting inches to feet would not be much or the tax lost or gained would not exceed Rs 2000-3000. When we round off the figures, it works in favour of some householders as they pay less tax and against some as they might pay more," he said.

When it was pointed out that in some cases the difference in total area calculated had been over 30 feet, Galinde said that it still "did not warrant using an exact or a perfect method".u00a0 "Had there been a case where the quantum of tax lost or gained would have been around a lakh or so, then the issue would need attention. Correcting this method will not help much," Galinde said. Talking about other issues, Galinde said that people often dupe the PMC by not declaring the changes in ownership or change in use of the property.

"A flat holder suddenly starts using his house as an office and doesn't inform the PMC since property
taxes are different for residential and commercial properties. They even rent out the places and continue to avail 40 per cent concession, which rented places should not get. If these cases are addressed, then the amount of revenue generated by the PMC would be much higher," he said.Another PMC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the corporation was already severely understaffed and one surveyor surveys an entire suburb. "It is not possible to detect such cases of miscalculation or misuse (of property) under such circumstances," he said.