The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has finally rolled up its sleeves to auction properties in order to recover pending arrears from tax defaulters in the twin-city. After symbolically sealing around 728 commercial and residential properties which owe a total of more than Rs.7.39 crore towards tax dues, the civic administration has initiated the process to appoint a government approved valuation firm to auction the properties it attaches after deciding their actual market value. Although 728 property owners are on the defaulters list around 50 percent properties are either entangled in judicial disputes or are already attached by financial institutions after being declared as a non performing asset (NPA).
Despite the introduction of the amnesty scheme in the last fiscal, some property tax defaulters in the city are not paying up taxes, prompting the civic administration to initiate the auction process. However the earlier attempts by the civic administration to auction confiscated properties which belonged to tax defaulters evoked an extremely cold shoulder response from bidders. “We have been issuing notices and warnings, however many have still not cleared the taxes, leaving us with no other option but to initiate the auction proceedings of around 300 properties.
But, it is true that earlier attempts had failed. The properties which fail to find bidders can be utilized as our offices or to house civic employees. We will seek the standing committee’s nod for this.” Said tax officer- Sudam Godse. As against the target of Rs. One of the major revenue generators for the MBMC, tax collections amounting 244 crore has been projected for the current fiscal and the property tax department has managed to mop up more than Rs. 36.45 crore till 1, August, 2021.
