Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi on Monday alleged that the BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation has not collected property tax from around eight lakh property owners.
She said there is a “scam” of ₹1,400 crore. The BJP termed the allegations a “cover up” by the AAP.
“In 2017, the North body hired an agency — Data World Company — to survey and quantify the number of properties. Following this, it came to light that more than 12 lakh properties had to pay property tax to the civic body. In 2017, it collected property tax from 5,75,000 properties, but in 2020 it collected property tax from only 4,25,000 properties,” said Atishi at a press meet.
She said these 12 lakh properties were given a Unique Property Identification Code (UPIC) through which the property tax collection mechanism would work. She said when a survey of 12 lakh properties has been conducted by the civic body, then why has property tax been collected only from one-third of that figure.
“The BJP-ruled civic body has done ₹1,400 crore property tax scam. This scam worth crores has been running in the north body for years now. If we go by their 12 lakh plus figure, elicited by their own survey, then property tax worth ₹2,000 crore should have been collected by the North body. Where is the balance of ₹1,400 crore? Where is the property tax of the remainder roughly eight lakh properties? Who has pocketed this amount? This is what we want to know,” she said.
‘Release funds’
Delhi BJP Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said that on Monday, the Delhi High Court has reprimanded the Delhi government for not releasing funds to municipal corporations.
He said Ms. Atishi’s statement alleging property tax scam is an effort to “cover up” the damage caused by High Court’s reprimand.