CSMC fails to adhere ‘Ease of Doing Business’ initiative

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Large number of property transactions take place daily at the registry office. Based on these transactions, property tax should automatically reflect the name change, and tax should be levied if it’s a new house or flat. However, instead of this happening seamlessly, property owners are forced to make rounds (repeated visits) of the municipal corporation’s zone offices. Notably, it is not easy to get the tax levied promptly at any of the zone offices. This means the initiative of ‘Ease of Doing Business’ is just a namesake for the civic authorities.

The city is rapidly expanding in all four directions. While many housing projects by builders and developers are being launched, some citizens are purchasing plots and building new homes. The sale of old houses, flats, and plots also continues throughout the year. All these transactions take place at the registry office, with more than a thousand transactions occurring each month.

Based on these transactions, the municipal corporation should levy taxes on new properties and promptly update the ownership records in case of old properties. However, this does not happen. Although the CSMC has announced offering of prompt services under ‘Ease of Doing Business’, in reality, the citizens (property holders) are forced to make repeated visits to zone offices to get the property tax applied or the ownership transferred. In fact, getting the tax levied and the name transferred (mutation) has been made into a far more complicated process than actually purchasing the property.

Thousands of Complaints

Zone offices receive thousands of complaints daily, such as property tax being levied two to three times on the same property or residential homes being taxed at commercial rates. However, not a single applicant’s issue is properly resolved. As a result, many property owners, frustrated with the municipal corporation’s functioning, simply refuse to pay the tax. There are several cases to prove the allegations, said the sources.

Data being collected

The municipal corporation’s Property Tax Assessment Officer, Vikas Navale, said,” The efforts are underway to obtain data from the registry office and use it to initiate the property tax process. We are working on it and have also sent an official letter to the registry office."

Growth in the number of taxpayers

Year/Total Property/Increase

2020-21/2,70,934/—

2021-22/2,83,007/12,073

2022-23/2,91,267/8,260

2023-24/3,05,733/14,466