Pune: After Goof Up In Database, PMC Collects Property Tax Incorrectly From Owners
Till 2018, PMC was giving 40% concession to property owners who are living on the property for which the tax was being charged. While if the property is rented out, then such owners were to pay full property tax.
In order to increase its revenue by bringing more properties under the tax ambit, PMC had appointed Sara IT Resources Pvt Ltd. and Cyber Tech System and Software in 2015 for the survey of the properties. They collected details like Mobile numbers, email ids, photos of the properties, old property tax number and GIS property numbers. The PMC paid them Rs 339 per property.
The PMC standing committee had given permission to Sara IT resources Pvt Ltd to conduct a survey and GIS mapping of 6.73 lakh properties at Rs 22.90 crore and Cyber Tech system was allocated Rs 4.99 crore to survey and GIS mapping of 1.47 lakh properties. Based on the work Sara company was paid Rs 15.59 crore, and later the company was paid Rs 1.97 crores. However, due to unsatisfactory work, the PMC had slapped notices on these companies many times and later a stop-work notice was given in February 2018.
According to PMC officials, these companies could finish only 16 per cent verification in two years and tagged various properties as rented properties where actual owners are living. This resulted in the cancellation of the 40 per cent concession in property tax for many citizens and the civic body started getting various complaints. Around 25-30 per cent of the total surveyed properties are occupied by owners; however, those properties were tagged as properties given on rent. This resulted in the removal of concessions in property tax.
Ajit Deshmukh, head, property tax department of PMC, said that a fine of Rs 2.84 crore has been imposed on the companies after getting many complaints from property owners.
