Crackdown on property tax defaulters: PMC issues 447 pre-seizure notices, 27 warrants | Mumbai news

NAVI MUMBAI: Acting swiftly, the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) has cracked down on property tax defaulters within its jurisdiction, catching them by surprise by issuing 447 pre-seizure notices and 27 warrants to attach their properties. The action has resulted in some defaulters toeing the line even as a housing federation has challenged the tax levied with retrospective effect, asking the defaulters to pay as per the interim court order. The Kharghar Cooperative Housing Societies Federation has filed a writ petition against the tax levied by PMC with retrospective effect from 2016, when it was formed.

The latest PMC action comes following instructions from municipal commissioner Mangesh Chitale to the property tax department. In response, deputy commissioner of Property Tax and assistant commissioner Swaroop Kharge and officers and employees of the seizure department urged all property owners under their jurisdiction to pay the property tax to the municipal corporation as soon as possible with the strict warning of seizure and attachment action otherwise. Accordingly, notices and property attachment warrants were issued to defaulters in Kharghar, Nawde sub-division, Kalamboli, Kamothe, Panvel and New Panvel wards.

Municipal commissioner Mangesh Chitale said, “Property tax is the main source of income for the civic body to carry out its development work. We have repeatedly appealed to the residents to pay their taxes in time and avoid the two per cent per month penalty levied for the delays. We have also offered incentives for early payments. Despite our repeated efforts, there are defaulters with large dues and hence we had to initiate action against them. It has shown results with some of them starting to pay up as we made our intentions of attaching their properties clear.”

The attachment action has led to ₹86 lakh dues being recovered from a popular mall, while a reputed educational institution in Kharghar has cleared a whopping ₹4.69 crore of its property tax dues.

Commenting on the action by the civic body, commander (retd) S H Kalawat, general secretary of Kharghar Cooperative Housing Societies Federation, said, “We have objected to the delay payment charges levied by the civic body for the period 2021-2024 as the court order came only in 2024. We are hopeful that this will be eliminated when the final court order comes.”

PMC has identified 3.5 lakh property tax owners in its jurisdiction. It has already collected ₹314.5 crore from them in the current financial year, with two months still to go.