Property tax hike: Chandigarh administrator to sit down with past 10 mayors, MC chief today

Amid the widespread political and public uproar over the steep hike in property tax, the Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has called a meeting with city’s past 10 mayors and the current municipal commissioner on Tuesday to discuss the Chandigarh municipal corporation’s deepening financial crisis, which spurred the hike.

This came hours after a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation, led by city president Jatinder Pal Malhotra and mayor Harpreet Kaur Babla, on Monday met Kataria, demanding roll-back of the recently hiked property tax.

Facing mounting public outrage over the tripling of residential property tax—from 3% to 9% of the annual rateable value (ARV)—and the doubling of commercial property tax to 6%, the BJP delegation submitted a memorandum, calling the hike an “unbearable financial burden” on residents and traders.

Malhotra insisted that the revised tax structure “does not align with the city’s needs” and vowed to safeguard citizens’ interests.

Mayor Babla said the issue had been raised multiple times within MC and on Monday, the party formally presented the collective concern before the administrator.

Sources said the focus of this meeting will be an audit of declining revenue trends and a discussion on increasing MC’s own revenue.

As per MC officials, the tax hike is a financial necessity for the civic body rather than an arbitrary decision. “With no special grant from the Union government or UT administration, despite repeated requests and mounting debts of MC, we had no other option than to propose the tax hike. Since MC has only a limited source of revenue generation, we are looking at ways to boost the revenue from every source. On the other hand, we are working hard to cut down on MC’s expenses,” said a senior MC official.

The controversial tax hike, announced on March 31, had come amid a spate of other increased charges—collector rates, garbage fees, water tariffs and electricity taxes—leaving Chandigarh residents frustrated and furious.

Resident and trader bodies, Opposition parties Congress and AAP, and even BJP’s own councillors have condemned the move.

The BJP contends that the hike was decided solely by the UT administration’s officers, without any discussion with elected representatives or even UT administrator, a move that has left the city’s ruling party red-faced and running for damage control.

Adding to the political drama, the Chandigarh BJP unit had on April 15 issued an ultimatum: Mayor Babla and all BJP councillors would resign if the UT administration did not revoke the tax hike and release additional funds for the cash-strapped MC by April 16.

However, as of Monday, no resignations had materialised. “The increasing percentage was not even discussed with the administrator, who has been out of town since the notification. Once he returns, we will tender our resignations in protest against this bureaucratic overreach,” a BJP functionary had said.

On the other hand, the Congress has staged multiple protests for a roll-back, whereas the AAP on Monday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court, questioning the hike’s constitutional validity.

Hike was rejected by MC House

Ironically, the same BJP-led MC had initially proposed an even steeper hike in a desperate bid to generate revenue. Plagued by a debilitating fiscal crisis, which has halted development works and delayed staff salaries, and no special assistance from the UT administration, MC had in February this year sought to raise property tax across all categories by four times, which could have boosted its annual revenue by around ₹200 crore.

The proposal was vociferously shot down by all councillors, cutting across party lines. Despite the political opposition, MC commissioner Amit Kumar had defended the proposal in a dissent note marked to UT, calling it the “need of the hour” to address the civic body’s financial distress. Once the agenda is rejected with a dissent note, and even otherwise, UT can exercise its power and take a decision.

On March 31, the UT administration, while not accepting the proposal as is, approved an up to three-fold hike.