Hyderabad: Illegal buildings will have to pay tax now

Hyderabad: The GHMC, cracking the whip on illegal buildings since four months, is concentrating on unauthorised constructions, whose owners have moved courts, by implementing Government Order GOMS 299.

During surveys across the city, the civic body identified as many as 1.41 lakh buildings having disputes with departments like revenue, GHMC, endowment and irrigation.

As per the GO, the civic body collects property tax along with a penalty of up to 100 per cent. Officials from circle level who held the survey found at least 800 to 1,000 such buildings in each division.

In the past, the GHMC had not collected property tax from such constructions and used to collect tax only from structures approved by the civic body.

The new government order allows the GHMC to collect 100 per cent penalty and property tax from buildings constructed on lands without title deeds or pattas, and on govern-ment/endowment/Wakf/irrigation lands under dispute in courts.
According to the GO, released on December 20, the city town planning section should maintain monthly records and hold review meetings on the 10th of every month. GHMC officials would hold a meeting to discuss the gathered information on all the 1.41 lakh unauthorised constructions on February 10.

GHMC commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy told DC that the civic body would get more than Rs 100 crore from penalties and property tax from the 1.41 lakh unauthorised constructions.

“We have been demolishing identified unauthorised constructions, Wherever the disputes with courts have become an impediment to our actions, we collect property tax by issuing notices. The receipt towards property tax paid by the owner of the unauthorised construction will not have any title, like name or company name. The GO was intended not to regularise the structures but only for collection of taxes,” he said.

GHMC officials in the circles on the outskirts like Uppal, Kapra, Quitbullapur, Kukat-pally, Rajendranagar and Serilingampally have already begun the process of issuing notices along with roses to identified owners of unauthorised constructions and recording the details of the structures along with the photographs of the owners in a separate register coloured pink. Officials are also collecting the property related documents the owner has with him/her.