Delhi: AAP alleges graft in north civic body's property tax collection

Delhi: AAP alleges graft in north civic body’s property tax collection

NEW DELHI: AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj on Monday alleged that the BJP-run North Delhi Municipal Corporation was not maintaining proper accounts of property taxes to avoid detection in the “loot”of its collection.

Referring to its recent audit report, the MLA claimed that due to massive corruption, the revenue from
property taxes didn’t not reach the corporation. “The north corporation was supposed to receive Rs 2,838 crore from the property tax this year but it has collected only Rs 1,703 crore. They do not maintain any proper documentation regarding the collection,” he alleged.”There is no way to find out how much corruption or financial disputes they have. In 2002, the Supreme
Court directed the BJP-run MCD to implement the double-entry rule; but even after 18 years, the direction has not been implemented,” said Bharadwaj.

In the absence of a register, the corporation has done massive manipulation with rented properties and commercial ones, both empty and used, he claimed, adding that the practise had let it change the usage of any property at will. “Even if a property is vacant, they can show that it is being used for commercial purposes. Moreover, there is no report or documentation regarding the property tax exemption,” the MLA alleged.

Responding to the allegations, Delhi BJP general secretary Harsh Malhotra said that since 2004, the self-assessment scheme had been followed for property tax evaluation.

“People file their own assessments and pay tax as per the applicable rates. The corporations do random checks on some 10% returns,” said Malhotra. Accepting that a “very small section” may be misusing the scheme, he said that by and large,

it had allowed people freedom from the inspector raj and was in wider public interest. “AAP has been constantly raising baseless allegations of misappropriation of property tax, demanding notices to assesses. Does AAP want revival of the inspector raj in the civic property tax departments?” Malhotra asked. He further said that such “false allegations” were an effort to cover up Delhi government’s “failures and scams” in DJB and the government’s collusion with power discoms.