Five properties in the posh areas of Law Garden and Swastik Society will be put on the auction block soon.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) decided to auction the properties to recover property tax dues that range from Rs 10.43 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. The auction will likely be held in the last week of July.
The chairman of the AMC revenue committee, Jainik Vakil, said, “The AMC decided to auction these properties after the property owners have failed to adhere to its demands. We issued notices and warned them that the properties would be auctioned, but they still failed to pay up.”
Vakil said, “Once the property is auctioned, the AMC will recover its tax dues and return the remaining amount to the original property owner. For example, the offset price for a property in Swastik area is Rs 1.89 crore, but the property owner owes only Rs 23.32 lakh in dues. If the property is auctioned for Rs 1.90 crore, the AMC will recover Rs 23.32 lakh and give the remaining Rs 1.67 crore to the original owner.”
He said that the AMC will auction these five properties in the last week of July. People can take part in the auction by producing their Aadhaar card. “If there are no bidders, the AMC will take possession of the property at a token amount of Re 1,” he added.
Vakil said that the AMC has collected Rs 842 crore as taxes including property tax, professional tax and vehicle tax since April – Rs 220 crore more than last year.