GBA orders crackdown on major property tax defaulters

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) on Monday directed all five corporations to draw up lists of major property tax defaulters and take stringent action to recover long-pending dues, including sealing commercial properties wherever necessary.

During a virtual meeting, GBA Chief Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao instructed officials to identify properties with high arrears, trace owners who remain outside the tax networks, and speed up action on pending revision cases. He asked city corporation commissioners to hold daily review meetings with revenue officers and issue clear directives to ensure tax recovery is prioritised.  

Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner (Revenue), GBA, said the five corporations have set a combined property tax target of ₹6,700 crore for the year, of which ₹3,533 crore has been collected so far. He directed officials to intensify collection efforts, especially from revision cases and long-time defaulters.

As per the GBA, 24,000 property tax revision cases across the five corporations account nearly for ₹170 crore in dues. A separate list of 22,000 defaulters together owes ₹598 crore. Officials have been told to give special attention to recovering these arrears.

Each corporation must prepare a list of 100 revision cases and 100 major defaulters in every division and assign specific recovery targets to Revenue Inspectors and Revenue collectors. Mr. Rao also directed officials to promptly verify and process pending new khata applications and ensure timely conversion of B-khata to A-khata.