BENGALURU: With 11 days left for clearing property tax arrears under the One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme, about 2 lakh out of 3.9 lakh defaulters are yet to clear dues totalling Rs 373 crore.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) sources told TOI categorically that defaulters cannot expect any extension of the OTS deadline beyond Nov 30, as there have been multiple extensions already.
They urged the defaulters to revise their property tax returns on their own before the deadline and clear dues to avoid being saddled with penalties and interest. Paying up after Nov 30 would push up the total to more than double the tax, as it will include stiff penalties and interest.
As of Nov 16, the civic body had collected Rs 360 crore in 2024-25, out of the total dues of Rs 733 crore, data accessed by TOI has revealed.
The OTS system was introduced in Feb 2024 to provide relief on interest and penalties so that defaulters clear their dues. The deadline was extended multiple times, and now BBMP has decided to take serious action to recover dues from Dec 1 onwards.
Among the top defaulters at the zonal level, nearly 50,000 property owners in Mahadevapura owe Rs 96 crore. Dasarahalli is at the bottom of the table with dues of over Rs 14 crore from 10,356 properties.
Munish Moudgil, special commissioner (revenue) BBMP, said: “This will be the last chance for defaulters to benefit from OTS. From Dec 1, the arrears liability will become 2-3 times more, and BBMP is going to take up a campaign to recover it. It is better that defaulters clear their dues by going online and availing the benefit of full interest waiver and penalty.”
Over the past month, BBMP has been attaching and sealing defaulters’ properties as a step towards collecting pending property tax. According to Palike data, until Nov 16, a total of 82,708 properties were attached and more than 6,381 non-residential buildings sealed.
“The response to the attachment of properties hasn’t been great as it is only an order saying hereafter, no transaction will be allowed on this property; so they don’t suffer immediately,” Moudgil said. “However, with the sealing of properties, we’ve had a good number of defaulters clearing off dues, including a few very big shots with large dues. In the majority of cases, they get a stay from court, or the premises which we seal are out of use, about which they aren’t bothered,” he explained.
South zone (16,049) tops the list for properties attached, while Dasarahalli (4,851) is at the bottom. However, east zone (1,747) tops the list for sealed properties, while Dasarahalli (268) again has seen the least sealings.
Source Homevior.in
