With hardly two months left in the current financial year, the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) is intensifying efforts to boost tax collections. The civic body has issued a stern warning to seize properties belonging to tax defaulters and auction them off to recover outstanding dues.
Ganesh Deshmukh, the municipal commissioner, directed the property tax department to seize the immovable or movable property of the defaulters and sell it by public auction to collect the dues. There are around 3.5 lakh property tax holders under the civic body’s jurisdiction. Despite protests from various sections against the property tax collection, the civic body has already collected Rs 248 crores till February 6.
“Property tax serves as the primary funding source for all proposed municipal projects. In response to non-payment, the municipal corporation has initiated the issuance of recovery notices to property owners,” said Deshmukh. The civic body has formed 10 teams for recovery across CIDCO nodes within all four wards of the municipal corporation. “The civic body will seize both immovable and movable assets of defaulters, proceeding to sell them via public auction to recover outstanding dues. These assets encompass industrial, residential, and non-residential properties,” said an official from PMC’s property tax department.
Due to the penalty for non-payment of property tax increase by 2 per cent per month, citizens receive regular reminders through loudspeakers attached to rickshaws across all four wards. Additionally, the Municipal Corporation has launched the 'PMC TAX APP', a mobile application for convenient online property tax payments. Property owners can also make payments via the website www.panvelmc.org.
The PMC clarified that tax collections are being collected under section 128 of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act. According to the official, there is a provision outlined in Schedule D, Chapter 8, Rule 47 of the Act allowing for the seizure or attachment of movable and immovable properties to recover tax arrears. Furthermore, the official highlighted that under section 128 of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act and Schedule D, Chapter 8, Rule 47, properties can be auctioned off as a means of enforcement.
Initially, the civic body offered concessions in penalties ranging from 100 per cent to 25 per cent for lump sum property taxpayers. On January 30, Villagers of 23 Gram Panchayat and six villages that were included in PMC when it was formed in 2016 took out a protest against the tax collection by the corporation. They demanded that taxes of the last five years should be waived off.
Panvel Taluka Prakalpgrast Samiti (PTPS) took out a protest march at civic headquarters and demanded to waive tax for the last five years. Deepak Thakur, secretary of PTPS said that they will intensify their protest in days to come against property tax collection in villages. “Despite losing the lands, they were not provided with any means of livelihood. After their villagers were included in the PMC, their consent was not taken. Now, they asked to pay around five times the taxes that they were paying under the Gram Panchayat,” said Advocate Thakur.