The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) council office.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Over 1.85 lakh property owners will see their tax dues double if they fail to clear arrears by the end of March.
This is the first time the BBMP is enforcing a rule that empowers it to impose a 100% penalty on property tax defaulters who have not paid their dues in the last 10 years. In total, the defaulters owe the civic body Rs 380 crore.
Officials said the 100% penalty provision was introduced through a notification issued in March last year.
“Despite introducing a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme and issuing multiple notices, these property tax defaulters have not settled their dues so far. We have received some positive feedback during the auctioning of properties. With only a few days left until the financial year ends, we are reminding defaulters to pay through SMS alerts and notices,” said Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner of BBMP’s Revenue Department.
So far, the BBMP has collected Rs 4,650 crore in property tax and aims to reach Rs 5,000 crore by the end of this month.
On Monday, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath announced that the government has introduced an OTS scheme for government buildings and public sector undertakings (PSUs) that have defaulted on service tax payments.
Under the scheme, interest is waived off, and a nominal penalty of Rs 100 has been fixed to encourage timely payments, Girinath said.