FACING FLAK for sending notices without proper verification, Municipal Commissioner Jitender Yadav on Tuesday ordered his staff not to issue new notices till the completion of the physical survey of the properties. The civic body was caught on the wrong foot when it sent out notices to EWS houses whose size was less than 500 square feet. A notification issued by the Chandigarh Administration in 2015 provides exemption of tax on residential property with a built-up area of up to 500 sq ft.
Different blocks of the EWS colony which were mostly in a dimension of approximately 20 ft x 22 ft and the area of these houses being around 400 sq ft to 450 sq ft were issued notices in Sector 30 last week. Residents raised a hue and cry and the local councilor alleged that it showed that the corporation had no record and was sending out notices arbitrarily. Talking to Chandigarh Newsline, Commissioner Yadav said, “New notices will now be sent only after verification.”
Yadav asked the staff to physically verify the size of houses and then prepare the notice if the person hasn’t paid the property tax. On wrongly issued notices, the commissioner stated that their staff was facing a challenge in physical survey as people would not let them enter their house and they had to make an assessment of the house size by looking at the adjacent houses. Until now, the corporation has sent out 25,000 such notices to house tax owners. A recovery of Rs 10 crore has been made from the house tax as of now.
Residents have been raising a hue and cry over the fact that they have received the notices despite paying the tax. Corporation officials were asking them to show receipts if they had paid the tax. The MC Commissioner had to apologise in the general house meet on Monday, stating that the notices were sent mistakenly. The corporation is also working towards digitized way of filing tax. From April 1, MC is likely to introduce the online payment of tax. The tax will also be calculated online.