Tricks played by 'corrupt' civic personnel while levying property tax

Aurangabad, Oct 8:

The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) sleuths had caught red-handed senior clerk Salman Kazi and a labourer Syed Shahzad of Zone II office (of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation) while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a cloth merchant against levying of property tax on his property, on Thursday evening. However, the arrests once again made the issue debatable and hint at the ongoing practice of corruption activity in a hidden way.

It is alleged that it is nearly impossible to levy tax on properties without greasing the palms of concerned staff working in the ward office. This practice thus is discouraging people to come forward voluntarily and bring their properties under the ambit of tax.

According to AMC sources, " The demanding bribe is a regular practice in all the ward offices. It is not new. Few property-holders want the property tax receipts so as to obtain bank or vehicle loans or other important works. Hence, they make rounds of the ward office, on their own, to levy the tax. Later on, the AMC personnel pay's home visit for measurement and then the real gamble kickstarts.

Tax from date of property registration

There is a provision in AMC rules to levy a tax upon the property since the date of registration of a property. If the date of property registration is for eg: five years old then the AMC personnel concerned frightens the property-holder telling the property tax will be around Rs 1 lakh as it will be levied from the date of purchase. He demands a bribe and if you grease the palm then he will levy tax from the last year.

Tampering the built-up area

The civic personnel use one more trick to extract money from the property-holder. If a two-storeyed building is constructed on a plot of 900 square feet area (G 2), then the civic personnel demands bribe to show only one storey construction. They also extract separate money for the processing of the property tax file.

No responsibility to the senior clerk

The civic administration has landed into confusion as Salman was removed from the property tax recovery squad. Besides, he was not given any responsibility relating to property tax collection. Then how come the incident took place.

Lodge the complaint: Thete

The deputy commissioner (AMC) Aparna Thete said, " The citizens should register their complaints with the ward officer concerned or any superior authority if any civic personnel from the ward office demands a bribe for levying the property tax. The names of complainants will be kept confidential. The files of properties, whose tax amount is more than Rs 10,000, are tabled before me. The files of tax amount less than Rs 10,000 are approved at the ward officer level. They have the authority to levy tax on the property in their jurisdiction."