Look who is defaulting on property tax in Delhi
17 Sept 2012 7:20 AM IST
Four prominent trusts occupying plots of land in the heart of the city occupy a place of prominence in the list of property tax defaulters of the local civic body. These trusts have not deposited even a single rupee of property tax to the municipal corporation since their establishment.
And, the reason for non-payment of the tax is not their financial crisis or lack of funds but something else, as three of them are managed by political parties and one by retired bureaucrats, eminent journalists, academicians and businessmen. All these trusts, situated at Rouse Avenue, Deen Dayal Upadhayay [DDU] Marg, have routinely avoided the notices for property tax by the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi [MCD] leading to ex-party assessment of their property taxes on 02 November 2010.
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee [DPCC] head office at 2, DDU Marg, owes a hefty Rs 30 lakh in property tax to the corporation. As per the assessment of the property tax department of North Delhi Municipal Corporation [NDMC], the property tax of the building has been estimated to be Rs 7.5 lakh per annum and the outstanding amount is calculated from 2004. According to sources, the building was constructed much after the plot was allotted to the DPCC in 1976. The building was formally inaugurated by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi in August 2006. 'We don't have the completion certificate of the building, as one more floor is yet to be constructed. We have demanded a revision of the tax assessment, but [the civic authority] wants to see the completion certificate of the building as a pre-condition. We are in talk with them and will sort out the matter at the earliest,' said an official in the DPCC.
The second building in the list is the Pravasi Bhawan of Antar Rashtriya Sahayog Parishad, which owes to civic body again Rs 30 lakh as outstanding in property tax at the same rate of Rs 7.5 lakh per annum. The foundation of the building was laid in 2003 by the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and inaugurated by Aneerood Jugnauth, the president of Mauritius in 2009. The trust is presently headed by the former foreign secretary Shashank as president. Eminent personalities, like the senior Journalist Seshadri Chari and the builder Vijendra Mittal, are in its management committee.
Lalu Prashad Yadav's Rashtiya Janata Dal [RJD] also has an outstanding of Rs 6.75 lakh in property tax. The foundation stone of the building Rabri Bhawan, named after his wife and former chief minister of Bihar Rabri Devi, was laid down on 7 August 2008 by Yadav. However the building was completed in 2010, but the office of the RJD is still being run from 13, VP House, Rafi Marg, and nobody knows who lives inside the Rabri Bhawan, as guards do not allow anybody to enter the premises.
And the fourth is Chandra Shekhar Bhawan at 13-B, Rouse Avenue, which has dues of Rs 7.22 lakh outstanding as unpaid property tax in the records of the civic body. The building is owned by the Yuva Bharti Trust, founded by the former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, which is now managed by H N Sharma, the secretary of the trust.
None of the buildings have submitted completion certificate and other documents to the municipal corporation despite several notices and reminders.
And, the reason for non-payment of the tax is not their financial crisis or lack of funds but something else, as three of them are managed by political parties and one by retired bureaucrats, eminent journalists, academicians and businessmen. All these trusts, situated at Rouse Avenue, Deen Dayal Upadhayay [DDU] Marg, have routinely avoided the notices for property tax by the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi [MCD] leading to ex-party assessment of their property taxes on 02 November 2010.
The Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee [DPCC] head office at 2, DDU Marg, owes a hefty Rs 30 lakh in property tax to the corporation. As per the assessment of the property tax department of North Delhi Municipal Corporation [NDMC], the property tax of the building has been estimated to be Rs 7.5 lakh per annum and the outstanding amount is calculated from 2004. According to sources, the building was constructed much after the plot was allotted to the DPCC in 1976. The building was formally inaugurated by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi in August 2006. 'We don't have the completion certificate of the building, as one more floor is yet to be constructed. We have demanded a revision of the tax assessment, but [the civic authority] wants to see the completion certificate of the building as a pre-condition. We are in talk with them and will sort out the matter at the earliest,' said an official in the DPCC.
The second building in the list is the Pravasi Bhawan of Antar Rashtriya Sahayog Parishad, which owes to civic body again Rs 30 lakh as outstanding in property tax at the same rate of Rs 7.5 lakh per annum. The foundation of the building was laid in 2003 by the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and inaugurated by Aneerood Jugnauth, the president of Mauritius in 2009. The trust is presently headed by the former foreign secretary Shashank as president. Eminent personalities, like the senior Journalist Seshadri Chari and the builder Vijendra Mittal, are in its management committee.
Lalu Prashad Yadav's Rashtiya Janata Dal [RJD] also has an outstanding of Rs 6.75 lakh in property tax. The foundation stone of the building Rabri Bhawan, named after his wife and former chief minister of Bihar Rabri Devi, was laid down on 7 August 2008 by Yadav. However the building was completed in 2010, but the office of the RJD is still being run from 13, VP House, Rafi Marg, and nobody knows who lives inside the Rabri Bhawan, as guards do not allow anybody to enter the premises.
And the fourth is Chandra Shekhar Bhawan at 13-B, Rouse Avenue, which has dues of Rs 7.22 lakh outstanding as unpaid property tax in the records of the civic body. The building is owned by the Yuva Bharti Trust, founded by the former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, which is now managed by H N Sharma, the secretary of the trust.
None of the buildings have submitted completion certificate and other documents to the municipal corporation despite several notices and reminders.
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