Hyderabad: Civic bodies follow no rhyme or reason

Hyderabad: Absence of uniform rules in assessing property tax in municipalities which have been upgraded from gram panchayats is causing severe problems for the taxpayers. GHMC says that it has no role to play in tax assessment in municipalities as it was the responsibility of the Municipal Commissioners concerned under the new Municipal Act-2019.

Sources said that the municipal commissioners have to prepare guidelines for assessment of property tax which will have to be approved by the local bodies. The public representatives will also have discretionary powers to make amends to the recommendations made by the municipal commissioners. This process is yet to be taken up in most of the new municipalities. Soon after the gram panchayats were upgraded to municipalities, the authorities divided the local bodies into zones for property tax collections.

In the Manuguru municipality in Kothagudem district, for normal residential buildings, the tax has been increased to Rs 15 per square metre as against Rs 5 collected in the panchayats. The buildings with tiles were charged Rs 20 per square metre. Earlier, it was Rs 7 only. For the luxury buildings, it was Rs 18 which is three times higher than panchayats. For commercial buildings, it was Rs 25.

The criteria adopted in the finalisation of property tax is based on the facilities provided in the particular building. As a result, people who constructed small residential buildings with some luxury facilities bore the brunt of the tax burden. The situation was no better even in semi-slum areas. They too are paying three times more tax as against what they were paying in the past. When contacted, the authorities admitted that some lacunae in fixing property tax in the residential category exists. Only when the ULBs finalise the proposals and fix the tax rates things would fall in place.

Officials admitted that no scientific mechanism has evolved yet as it requires a lot of groundwork and it would take some more time. Till then, the property owners have to bear the brunt.