GHMC-led GIS survey flags 80,000 property tax violations
Hyderabad: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has found huge irregularities in property tax collections during its Integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) survey, which maps every property and utility within the city’s jurisdiction with precision.
Of the 20 percent of the GIS survey completed so far, the civic body has identified over 80,000 buildings with discrepancies in the property tax payments and owners of approximately 20,000 of these structures have never paid any property tax.
The GHMC’s Information Technology (IT) wing recently submitted its findings to the Commissioner Ilambarithi. After going through the report, the Commissioner directed officials to first issue show-cause notices under Section 213 of the GHMC Act to all violators before taking action against them.
To ensure effective recovery of property, water and other taxes and better tracking of defaulters, the civic body launched a GIS-based survey a year ago.
As part of this project, several teams were formed to map about two million properties across the city. These teams are using the latest high-resolution satellite data and drones to capture boundaries of each plot and building to create a detailed geo-map.
At the same time, the GHMC also started a door-to-door survey of all properties in its jurisdiction. According to a GHMC official, currently there are around 19 lakh assessments in the city limits and once the household survey is completed, around 4.5 lakh additional properties will be identified and brought under the tax net. It is expected that the civic body is expected to collect an additional Rs 1,000 crore property tax after the completion of GIS survey.
The authorities have been instructed to send notices to the owner of every single property flagged in the survey. The Commissioner said all these defaulters’ cases must be entered into the online system by the respective Assistant Municipal Commissioners (AMCs).
Once the notice is received, the property owner will have a 15-day window to respond to it. Based on the explanation provided, either a Bill Collector or a Tax Inspector will physically verify the property and submit a report to the Deputy Commissioner. The officials will proceed ex parte (without a hearing) if they receive no explanation from the property owner.
The officials will also hold a public hearing in cases where owners raise objections to the notices. The Deputy Commissioner will review those objections and take a final decision.
