On tax hunt, Chandigarh civic body finds 300 properties without owners

CHANDIGARH: The municipal corporation (MC) has detected around 300 commercial properties without any owners, asking the estate office of the UT administration for information on them for enabling it to collect property tax.

The move has come following a survey by multiple teams of the civic body.

The staff found these properties locked or sealed by other departments or not allotted. As a result, no name of property owner and address was found in the records.

“Since all these properties are located in the city and estate office is the custodian of the land, the civic body has written a letter to it to trace the owners to get the property tax. We are hopeful of a positive reply. This will allow us to get tax of these properties in future. The MC staff asked neighbours during the survey about the property owners but they were unaware,” sources said.

Most of the properties are booths. They are located in sectors 7, 8, 9, 11, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 27, 28, 31, 34, 36, 38 and 39.

“Commercial property tax is key segment of revenue generation and maximum revenue come from it as compared to residential properties. Tracing the owners of these properties and collecting revenue from them is crucial for us,” sources said.