Mayor to review tax levied on rented properties
kolkata: Mayor Firhad Hakim has sought an enquiry inspection report from the concerned officials of the Building department of all the properties in the city that have been given on rent to private establishments or trusts or to individuals.
The review report will have the details of the present tax collected from these properties so that new rates as per the current market can be slapped on the properties once their lease agreement term expires.
There are 733 properties belonging to the KMC in Kolkata, most of which have been given on lease at a very nominal rate to private trusts during the Left Front regime. Hakim said that a valuable property near Science City in Kolkata was offered on rent at Re 1 only during the Left Front rule. In response to a query from Trinamool Congress councilor of ward 48 Biswarup Dey, the Mayor said that during 2017-18, the earning from these properties was 1.60 crore, in 2018-19 it was Rs 1.93 crore, in 2019-20 it was Rs 1.09 crore, in 2020-21 it was Rs 1.24 crore and in 2021-22 it was Rs 6.46 crore.
"This is not at all satisfactory and we need to augment our earning from these properties, However, claiming share of profit by KMC will open up the door for the owner to seek legal path as there was no exit clause according to the lease agreement made. So we have to wait for the license period to expire and then we can levy tax as per present market rate," the Mayor said. He rued the fact that in most cases the property was rented out at such a nominal rate with the owner promising to develop greenery but later many of these properties have been found to be used for commercial purpose.
The properties that are used for clubs or social organizations will however not come under the ambit of commercial rate, clarified the Mayor. Hakim issued a warning to a section of unscrupulous promoters not to indulge in unfair practice with the KMC's Building department's vigilance being enhanced in the city. "The twin towers' demolition in Noida should be treated as a caution for the illegal building promoters," he said.
