india

Updated: Apr 11, 2019 08:16 IST

Congress’ Bandra West corporator, Asif Zakaria, wrote to municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta on Monday and asked him to issue a clarification on whether the property tax waiver on residential units less than 500 sq ft is applicable on the entire tax or just the general tax component. He alleged 100% property tax waiver was a “farce”.

In his letter, Zakaria said the tax waiver is confusing as the statement and the ordinance issued by the state have two different implications. He alleged the government resolution (GR) on tax waiver shows that only 10%-30% of the property tax will be waived in reality.

He added that as per a proposal forwarded by the civic body to the state, the former was to waive property tax. But in the GR passed on March 8, only section 140 (C) of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act is amended wherein just the general tax component — which varies from 10%-30% of total tax structure — has been exempted.

Zakaria said, “While section 140 (C), which deals with the property tax, states the entire tax is waived, the statement mentions that only the general tax component is waived. Property tax has 10 components such as water tax, fire tax, sewerage tax and general tax.”

He also raised the issue during a standing committee meet on Wednesday. “In addition to the exact tax being levied on the citizens, the GR also creates confusion with regards to the dates for implementation of the waiver. It [GR] says with immediate effect from January 1, 2019, but the BMC has issued bills up to March 31, 2019. Will it refund the three months’ tax? Also, the administration will continue to issue bills from April 2019 as per the old system because the notification is yet to be received,” Zakaria said.

Yashwant Jadhav, Sena leader and standing committee chairperson, said they will fulfil their promise of a property tax waiver for houses less than 500 sq ft.

Despite repeated attempts, assistant municipal commissioner (assessment and collection department) Devidas Kshirsagar remained unavailable for a comment.