The MC is gearing up to auction commercial properties,to recover outstanding property tax dues,“For the first time, MC will undertake auction of properties to recover its property tax dues. The civic body can attach commercial properties if the property tax is not paid. If payment is still not made, it can auction such properties.
Even after sealing and attachment of commercial properties, there are instances wherein tax payees are yet to deposit property tax dues. Now, for recovery of these dues, the MC has initiated the process of auctioning the properties,” said an MC official.
The civic body has identified around 50 properties for auction. “These include different categories of commercial properties like shop-cum-offices (SCOs). As a first step, the MC has identified such properties sealed recently and some time back. Next, physical verification of the properties will be done to check the ground status,” said the official.
In instances where sealed properties are found to be occupied against the rules, the MC will initiate legal proceedings against violators. First information report (FIR) will be registered in all such cases, the official said. He also said that the reserve price of the property would be fixed and an auction notice issued. The defaulter can pay tax dues before the auction starts. Thereafter, if he fails to do so, an auction will be held.
The MC has been taking its recovery drive a notch up in phases. Earlier, it issued recovery notices amounting to Rs 12.33 crore to 444 commercial properties. Of these, dues of 25 properties worth around Rs 0.77 crore were cleared. Later, attachment notices were issued to major defaulters.
In the past month, the MC property tax branch has issued 72 attachment notices amounting to around Rs 1.2 crore in property tax dues against defaulting commercial properties. Of these, 26 properties have deposited tax dues running into Rs 0.34 crore. “We are continuously issuing recovery/attachment notices against defaulters and the process will continue. In the first phase, we focused on major defaulters,” said the official.