Civic body mulls amnesty scheme for defaulters

“We plan to propose the scheme as it is a very good revenue earning mechanism. This way,people can clear outstanding dues before the new capital value tax system comes into force,” said Vasant Pandere,Assessor & Collector BMC.

The proposal will be formally put up for the BMC’s standing committee approval next month. The assessment and collection department of BMC has over 2 lakh outstanding cases as on August 2,2010 and an amount of over Rs 6,000 crore as outstanding dues. “The maximum amount of money is stuck in court cases,” said a senior official.

Although the BMC does not have the power to settle court cases stuck in litigation,the civic administration has the power to settle cases of complaint against rateable value,dues from other departmental pending adjustment,property tax disputes,dues against court receiver among others,” said the official.

“A substantial amount stuck in these disputes is in SRA schemes,” official added.

Property tax along with octroi tax are the biggest money spinners for Mumbai’s civic body. According to officials,the suggestion was put forth after BMC’s amnesty scheme to collect outstanding water bills saw success. The civic administration had introduced a scheme in September wherein defaulters of water bill could pay the full outstanding amount and get a rebate on the 2 per cent additional charges which is the late fee charges.

The scheme which had been introduced for 2 months,not only for common citizens but also for companies and government agencies,helped the civic body recover over Rs 200 crore in just one month. The BMC had outstanding water bills totaling to Rs 978 crore,of which Rs 294 crore was the total additional charges.