Mayor vows to simplify property tax; building permission processes

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Mayor Sameer Rajurkar has warned civic officials and staff that any malpractice while levying property tax will not be tolerated.

He said that it is well known how some municipal employees speak to and treat ordinary citizens during the assessment and collection of property tax. “If anyone is found harassing citizens hereafter, they will not be spared,” the mayor warned.

The remarks were made during a review meeting of the tax assessment section held on Monday morning in the presence of municipal commissioner G Sreekanth. Deputy Mayor Rajendra Janjal, deputy commissioner Vikas Navale, zone officers and property tax recovery staff were also present. The mayor welcomed the section for achieving the milestone of ₹200 crore in tax collection.

Submit report on defaulters within 30 days

Rajurkar noted that the highest number of complaints relate to property tax assessment. There are around 3 lakh property holders in the city, and 100 per cent tax recovery must be ensured. However, this has not been achieved so far, and the arrears figure continues to rise each year.

He directed officials to prepare a list of major default tax-payers and submit a detailed report within the next 30 days. He added that the department has been included in the forthcoming 100-day action programme of the municipal corporation.

Building permission files should be auto-approved

During a separate review meeting of the town planning (TP) section, the mayor questioned why citizens do not receive building permissions (BP) on time despite 99 per cent of files being submitted online. All construction-related applications are processed digitally, yet delays persist.

He pointed out that there are fixed timelines for scrutiny and for files to move through junior engineers, deputy engineers and senior officers. “Why, then, are some files getting stuck?” he asked. Referring to the advanced AutoDCR system, he suggested that files should be automatically approved after two months if no objections are raised, and asked officials to consider this proposal.

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Zero tolerance for corruption

The mayor stressed that corruption in the TP section must be completely eradicated. If files are deliberately held up on trivial grounds to harass citizens or extract undue favours, strict action will be taken against those responsible.

He emphasised that if an application complies with rules, it must be cleared immediately. At the same time, officials and staff must refrain from carrying out any work that violates regulations.