Get ready to pay house tax at Re 1 per square yard

MC passes agenda without debate; houses below 5 marla and those in villages, colonies exempted.

Having remained a bone of contention between the UT Administration and the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation for the past few years, the move to impose house tax in the city was passed at a meeting of the General House amid a ruckus on Thursday. The city residents will now have to pay house tax at the rate of Re 1 per square yard per year.

Amidst total chaos in the House, Mayor Subhash Chawla announced the passing of agenda items from 5 to 13. The house tax that was the 12th item on the agenda was passed in an arbitrary manner with none of the councillors getting a chance to debate the issue. In fact, the issue affecting thousands of city residents did not merit even a mention at the meeting. As many as 30 agenda items were passed without any discussion.

The houses below five marla as well as those in the villages and colonies have been exempted from the tax. However, people residing in other areas will have to bear the brunt of the tax. There are a total of 81,609 houses that will fall under the ambit of house tax. For all houses measuring two kanals and above, the tax is fixed at Rs 1,000 annually. For the others, it will be Re 1 per sq yard annually. The MC is expected to collect a total of Rs 2.27 crore through imposition of the tax.

There are 20,265 marla and kanal houses, 7,979 houses in co-operative societies, 5,597 MIG houses, 10,675 HIG houses, 15,053 houses under the administration and 22,040 under the Central government.

The agenda had been proposed by the nominated councillors after a meeting with Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil. While it was to be a part of the meeting held in January, the meeting was adjourned following which no discussion could take place.

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