NEW DELHI: During a two-day drive conducted on Monday and Tuesday, New Delhi Municipal Council attached 13 properties in Connaught Place for non-payment of due property tax.
Officials said that these included well-known establishments in blocks A, B, D and E, including restaurants, clothing shops and accessories outlets. “We served notices to the defaulters (landowners/occupiers of properties) regarding non-payment of their dues. They were also given a month’s time to respond, but when no reply came from the other side, their properties were attached under Section 100 (1) of the NDMC Act,” said an official.
“After the attachment of properties, five occupiers or landowners submitted Rs 6 crore as pending dues. But we will not de-attach their properties unless they give an assurance in writing to clear all their pending dues by March 31. They are also being invited to visit the assessment records if there is any doubt about the calculated amount,” the official added.
The council claims to continue the exercise in the coming days.
This year, NDMC identified around 3,200 defaulters who did not pay property tax amounting to about Rs 200 crore in the last three years (post-Covid) and served them notices. This initiative is part of efforts to enhance property tax collection during the current financial year.
A partner at a 76-year-old restaurant in Connaught Place, Sunil Malhotra, claimed that NDMC sealed their establishment and cut off the electricity supply. “We have not been served any notice. In fact, we have been writing to them again and again to issue us a separate property identification number. The council is doing an assessment of the entire property and dividing our share based on the portion we occupy (as per NDMC). But the correspondence is done with the landlord and not with tenants. So we have been raising questions about sharing the method adopted to calculate our share of the taxable amount or issue us a separate ID,” he said.New Delhi Traders’ Association president Atul Bhargawa explained that despite their opposition and numerous communications with the council over several years, property tax calculations continued using the “comparable rent method” rather than the “unit area method”. He questioned NDMC’s approach, noting that MCD utilises the unit area method, and suggested that a single tax method should apply across the city.
Bhargava stated that a general meeting with members was scheduled for Thursday to discuss this matter.
NDMC aims to collect Rs 1,150 crore from property tax in 2024-25 (till Feb), compared to Rs 1,030 crore collected in 2023-24.
