GHMC gives ultimatum to Property tax defaulters
Property tax defaults to the tune of a whopping Rs 1,500 crore has forced the GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) to crack the whip on property tax defaulters in the city. The body is providing an ultimatum by issuing them red notices with a deadline to pay tax defaults in the next 45 days. Property tax defaulters include residential as well as commercial property owners, many of them being high-profile owners.
Property tax defaulter statistics
As per GHMC estimates, there are approximately 13.6 lakh properties in the city limits with about 10 lakh of them having a taxation limit of Rs 5,000. Most of the remaining properties with a higher taxation limit are either commercial complexes or high-rise residential and commercial buildings. Among these, there are as many as 2,000 major property tax defaulters, of which the total tax arrears of the 1,000 major tax defaulters in each of the 18 circles of GHMC amounts to more than Rs 385 crore. Not surprisingly, most of the property tax defaulters have tax arrears from previous years as well. Some of the high profile tax defaulters include Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) with a tax default of about Rs 15.76 crore, South Central Railway (Rs 9.64 crore) and GVK-One Mall (Rs 2.48 crore).
Defunct defaulter companies
Among the tax defaulters are also many commercial establishments which have become defunct even though their buildings still exist. They include prestigious yesteryear companies like Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) which has a property tax valuation of about Rs 10 crore inspite of winding up operations lately. Other notable companies awaiting closure with heavy tax defaults include Hindustan Cables Limited (HCL) as well as Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) with tax defaults of about 10 and 12 crore respectively.
Future course of action
In a bid to retrieve the property tax defaults, the corporation is leaving no stone unturned. It plans to collect details of the top 50 property tax defaulters in all 18 circles and issues red notices to them with strict deadlines enforced. If the tax defaulters still fail to pay their pending dues, the corporation plans to seize their movable assets. Inspite of collecting Rs 650 crore as property tax this financial year, GHMC is still in deficit of more than 50 per cent of the target that it plans to collect.
