Panchkula MC serves notices on 7 govt depts for unpaid property tax
Buildings of the defaulting depts that owe MC ₹15.67 crore will be sealed if tax is not cleared in 15 days; if dues are not paid within 15 days, buildings of the tax defaulters, including police department and Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), will be sealed, as per officials.
Tightening the noose on tax defaulters, the Panchkula municipal corporation has issued notices to seven government departments that owe it ₹15.67 crore in property tax.
If dues are not paid within 15 days, buildings of the tax defaulters, including police department and Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP), will be sealed, as per officials.
The notices have been issued under Sections 95 and 130 of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994.
The notice served to HSVP, Sector 6, stated, “Your department’s 43 properties situated within the municipal limits of Panchkula have property tax dues amounting to (over) ₹3.43 crore.”
Another notice sent to the director general of police (DGP) office, Sector 6, raised demand for ₹3.01 crore pending against police department’s 47 properties within MC limits.
The third notice was sent to the director of department of agriculture and farmer welfare, Krishi Bhawan, Sector 21, regarding tax dues amounting to ₹30.48 lakh against eight properties.
The fourth defaulter is public health engineering department, Sector 4, that has 136 properties and dues over ₹1.67 crore.
A notice was also issued to director, Women and Child Development department, Sector 4, for unpaid tax worth ₹25.54 lakh against 44 properties.
Another notice was served on the chief administrator, Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board, Sector 6, that owes MC ₹13.64 lakh for five properties.
Lastly, the notice to the managing director, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd, Sector 14, has sought payment of dues worth ₹6.88 crore for its 31 properties.
Property tax is a major source of revenue for the corporation. Currently, there are over 19,000 property tax defaulters in Panchkula, with unpaid tax worth over ₹100 crore. The major defaulters are government buildings that owe MC over ₹50 crore.
The dues are pending since 2010, when the municipal corporation of Panchkula was constituted. In 2013, a notification was issued by the Haryana government to collect property tax retrospectively from 2010.
Recently, MLA Gian Chand Gupta had directed the corporation to seal government buildings if they fail to pay the tax.