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Unit area system for property tax from next year only

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI JUNE 17. The people-friendly Unit Area System for assessment of property tax in the Capital would now come into force from April 1, 2004 and not from this year as was announced earlier.

A decision in this regard was taken by the Congress-ruled Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Saturday at a meeting chaired by the Delhi Mayor, Ashok K. Jain, and attended by the Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, and the Leader of House and Standing Committee Chairman, Ram Babu Sharma.

While practical difficulties in implementing a new house tax System in the middle of a financial year has been cited as one of the major reasons for its postponement, apprehensions on part of Congress leaders about adverse reaction from people in an election year is believed to be the real reason for delay in introduction of the Unit Area system. It means Delhiites would have to suffer at the hands of inspectors for one more year. However, the civic body would go ahead with the appointment of the Municipal Evaluation Committee for classification of the colonies and fixing the unit area rate as desired by the recent amendment in the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1953 which was approved by the President, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam this month.

With the presidential assent, people had hoped to get rid of the inspector raj this year itself as was promised by the ruling party but its leaders thought it otherwise.

Officials in the MCD have argued that introduction of the Unit Area System in the middle of the financial year would only lead to chaos and might badly affect its house tax collection.

``We are not fully prepared for implementation of the Unit Area System. The delay would give us time to evolve a full-proof system and also complete our database of all the estimated 30 lakh properties of the Capital,'' said a senior MCD official.

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