Property tax hike: Only 300 of 10K appeals cleared

“During the property tax hike, my residential building was assessed as non-residential building due to a mistake. I submitted the appeal petition two weeks ago, but am yet to hear from officials,” said a resident of Velachery.

According to a Chennai Corporation official, the civic body received over 10,000 appeals, including 2,000 that were submitted at Ripon Buildings, its headquarter. It has also been receiving petitions at the regional deputy commissioner offices. However, so far, the officials have disposed of less than 300 appeals. “Initially we had given only 15 days’ time to accept appeal petitions. But due to a large number of complaints, we continue to accept petitions. The process of disposing of petitions is delayed, as most of the petitions need site inspection before taking final decisions,” the official added. This would entail a daunting task for the Corporation officials; sources in the civic body said nearly one lakh property tax assessments in the city need correction. When asked whether the civic body would conduct camps for rectifying the errors, the official said camps were not feasible considering the huge number of appeals. “We will rectify the mistake if the property owners send applications,” he said.

It is learnt the Chennai Corporation has collected Rs 453 crore property tax till Thursday, which is marginally higher (Rs 1.28 crore) than the tax collected during same period in the last financial year. Among the 15 zones, Teynampet zone collected the highest — Rs 89 crore.

“Other than those who are waiting for the correction in their tax hike, others are paying. As the tax hike has come into effect from April, taxpayers are paying current tax and the arrear,” official said.