Panvel residents bank on Bombay HC to skip paying property tax immediately

Residents living under the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) received a major relief from the Bombay High Court as the court has prevented the local body from taking any coercive action against the property tax defaulters.

The court also questioned the retrospective property tax collection by the corporation.

Leena Garad, a rebellion BJP corporator from Kharghar has appealed to citizens not to pay property tax until a final decision comes from the court. She said that the court, while putting the matter for the next hearing on June 24, questioned the retrospective tax collection by the Corporation.

While the civic body came into existence in 2016, a proposal in the civic general body was passed in 2019 to collect property tax. However, the civic body has been collecting taxes since the time it was formed which residents have been opposing.

They say that they were already paying service charges to CIDCO for that period and if they pay taxes again, it will be a dual and retrospective tax collection.

Garad has been fighting against the retrospective and dual tax collection of the PMC and approached the High Court along with three other complainants.

As the matter is subjudice, civic officials refused to comment. However, they said that they received a lukewarm response of rebates offered for payment of property tax.

The PMC had proposed four slabs to avail rebate from 100 per cent to 25 per cent on penalty for the delayed payment of property tax. However, from January 1, 2023, onwards, the civic body will not give any rebate for the delayed payment of property tax.

Under the scheme, citizens would have not been required to pay the penalty if they had made the payment by May 31, 2022, as the civic body offered a 100 per cent waive-off on penalty till May 31, 2022.

However, from January 1, 2023, the civic body will not give any rebate on penalty and it will collect actual property tax and penalty both.