Property tax revision cases rise to 37,216 in Bengaluru

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has revised the property tax in 13,253 cases during the current financial year up to August-end.

According to GBA documents accessed by The Hindu, at the end of the previous financial year, 23,963 cases had been identified. With the new additions, the total number of cases being revised stands at 37,216.

The GBA had earlier sent notices to over 23,000 properties for declaring incorrect property details. Enforcement has been tightened as the new corporations explore options to expand their revenue base, while they have failed to unlock diverse revenue avenues.

Of the 23,963 cases identified last year, the GBA was to collect ₹190.92 crore. However, so far, a meagre ₹12.32 crore from 4,960 cases has been collected.

According to the latest report, Bengaluru West accounted for the highest recovery at ₹4.16 crore from 1,488 revision cases, followed by Bengaluru Central at ₹2.93 crore from 640 cases, Bengaluru South at ₹2.53 crore from 1,127 cases, Bengaluru North at ₹1.47 crore from 1,152 cases, and Bengaluru East at ₹1.23 crore from 553 cases.

Bengaluru West had the highest number of revision cases at 12,820, involving ₹203.20 crore, followed by Bengaluru South with 8,773 cases involving ₹151.49 crore, and Bengaluru North with 6,913 cases involving ₹67.03 crore. Bengaluru Central had 5,533 cases involving ₹82.75 crore, while Bengaluru East had 3,177 cases involving ₹49.94 crore.

Strengthening revenue sources

A corporation commissioner explained that revision cases and unassessed properties were being identified stringently, considering that property tax is one of the major sources of income for the new corporations.

“On the basis of the Revenue Department’s drone survey, field verification was done to filter out the incorrect flaggings in the last financial year. Now, even GPS is being used to verify,” he said.

Earlier this year, there were claims that the GBA relied only on the drone survey to revise property tax cases, but the authority clarified that field verifications were being carried out.

Unassessed properties brought under tax net

Meanwhile, the five city corporations have added 18,095 unassessed properties to the property tax net during the current financial year, collecting ₹31.63 crore from them.

Bengaluru East accounted for the largest number of such properties, with 7,004 properties and ₹12.35 crore collected. Bengaluru West followed with 4,027 properties and ₹10.37 crore, while Bengaluru South added 3,354 properties and collected ₹2.65 crore.

Bengaluru North added 3,031 properties and collected ₹1.76 crore, while Bengaluru Central added 679 properties and collected ₹4.51 crore. By August-end, the corporations had added 1,414 unassessed properties.