Misspelt name to wrong address: Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon tax camps didn’t quite help fix errors

GURGAON: More than a month after the civic body organised camps to rectify inaccuracies in the property tax data, residents say the errors had not been rectified due to which they are facing difficulties in depositing property tax. The last date for filing property tax for 2022 is March 31.

A property tax survey conducted by a private agency in January 2022 found that properties falling under the tax ambit had increased from 307,000 to 514,000. The municipal corporation created new property IDs based on the survey and then invited objections from residents. However, residents alleged that the IDs had incorrect details — misspelt or wrong names of owners and addresses — creating a faulty database.
Several residents who tried updating their details online alleged their applications are being rejected, while others visiting the MCG office to modify and update the details manually said the process was too time-consuming. The MCG then held camps for three days at Nirvana Society, DLF 1 community centre and the old MCG office between January 27 and 29, and again at Malibu Towne on February 11 and 12.
“I tried to rectify the errors in the details of my three properties online towards December-end last year but all my applications were rejected. So, I visited one of the camps organised by MCG in January and submitted the required documents to update the details. It’s been more than a month now but the status is still the same. All the data was earlier correct before the private agency surveyed the city and goofed up,” Inderpal Singh, a resident of DLF-1, said.
Of his three properties, addresses in two are incorrect and all details in the third are incorrect, he said.
Suneel Kumar Srivastav, a resident of Malibu Towne, said he had filed property taxes for 2020 and 2021 online without any difficulty but when he tried to file it in 2022, he found all the details were wrong. “While the image of my house is correct, the address and owner’s name are wrong. My name is mentioned as the second owner. I attended the MCG camp held at our condominium in February and submitted all requisite documents, including a copy of the registry, hoping that the data would be rectified. However, there has been no progress yet,” Srivastav said.
When Rita Khanna, another resident of Malibu Towne, attended the camp last month to get the owners’ name and address in her property data fixed, she was assured that the changes will reflect online within 15 days. “However, a month has passed but the data has not been updated yet. I have not been able to obtain the rebate with a deadline of March 31,” Khanna said.
When approached, a senior MCG official told TOI that the civic body has deployed 292 field staff, including multi-tasking staff of its health wing, supervisors of the sanitation wing, and clerks deputed in the councillors’ office, among others for re-verification of the property data. “The number of applications is huge, so it is taking time. However, we are working actively to rectify all the property tax data,” he said.