The tax department of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation seems to have miss the target set for the recovery of property tax. The low recovery has irked the municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad IP Gautam, who took to employees to the task before a couple days, said sources close to the development.
The civic body had set the target to recover around Rs425 crore towards property tax from the citizens of Ahmedabad. However, the revenue department has been able to recover only around Rs338 crore.
Property tax is the major source of income for the civic body after removal of octroi. The state government agreed to grant money in lieu of octroi and also promised to increase the amount by 15% every year.
However, as the government failed to release the grant in timely manner, the pressure is increasing on the tax department to collect revenue.
It is believed that Gautam asked the employees of the tax department to focus more on recovery of the property tax. The department has sealed more than 6,200 properties to recover money from the defaulters. However, the efforts to please the municipal commissioner has failed, said sources. Gautam has asked the officials not to harass small defaulters, sources said, adding that the civic chief had asked the staff to stay away from the corrupt practices or face dire consequences.
Sources also said that the chief had also stated that mere projection of figures of sealed properties will not work. It should be noted that the tax department has sealed more than 1,200 properties in one day in the first week of February. However, since then there is not even a single seal in the East zone.
Moreover, the recovery of property tax is also lowest in this zone, said sources.
The civic body has also started the process of measuring central government-owned properties in the city to recover property tax.
The civic body had approached the Supreme Court to recover property tax from railways, central excise and sales tax departments. It is believed that the property tax recovered from the central government's properties would add more than Rs25 crore in AMC's coffer.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}