Waive penalty on property tax, says standing committee; BMC admin says can’t do

Chairman asks civic body to stop penalising owners for delay in payment until they meet with the group leaders, including the BMC chief

Cutting across party lines, corporators on Wednesday opposed a 2 per cent fine for delay in payment of property tax. At a standing committee meeting, Chairman Yashwant Jadhav directed the BMC to immediately stop penalising the defaulters.

Jadhav asked the civic body to pause the fine collection until the matter is discussed at a meeting of group leaders, which will also be attended by municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal. The BMC had started imposing a penalty of 2 per cent per month during this financial year. The corporators had opposed the decision last week as well. Opposition leader Ravi Raja said, “The BMC is helping the rich people, and does not think about the poor. It should stop taking action against properties on the humanitarian ground.”

Samajwadi Party leader Rais Shaikh said, “In the last meeting we requested to waive off the fine as people were facing financial hardship due to the pandemic. But there isn’t any response from the administration. This is contempt of the committee.” BJP corporator Prabhakar Shinde said, “The BMC has given many reliefs and rebates to the developers and other businesses but here they are burdening common citizens.”

The BMC administration, however, said it cannot give immediate relief, and that changes will have to be made in the law to stop the penalty. P Velarasu, additional commissioner of the BMC, said, “We will have to take legal advice on not imposing the fine. The action being taken against the defaulters or delayed payment is in accordance with the law. The number of defaulters of property tax has now reached up to 70 per cent from 30 per cent earlier. So far, the BMC has collected Rs 4,100 crore in property tax against the target of Rs 5,200 crore for the fiscal year 2020-21.”

2%
Monthly penalty imposed by the BMC

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