As NMC goes in for auction, defaulters pay up

Nagpur: Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s efforts to recover property tax from defaulters by auctioning their properties has started showing results. As many as 10 defaulters paid their outstanding tax just before the properties were to go under the hammer. NMC procured one property for itself after its owner failed to pay the tax and no bidder came forward for it.
Gandhibagh zone had shortlisted 13 properties for auction on Monday to recover Rs22.88 lakh arrears.By November 18, five defaulters had deposited Rs10,79,391 dues while one (Sardarkhan Sherkhan, who owns a non-residential plot and has Rs1,45,201 dues) obtained stay from a court. Most properties to be auctioned were in dispute due to joint families and it led to defaulting on tax, zone’s assistant municipal commissioner Ashok Patil told TOI.
Armed with a public address system, police personnel, Patil and Gandhibagh zone team started the auction at 11 am from Mahal area where one Bajirao Naik had defaulted to the tune of Rs6.15 lakh. As the team began announcing the procedure, one of the occupants of the property Sachin Naik deposited a cheque of entire amount.
Later, the team moved towards Budhoo Khan Minara road along Central Avenue to auction the property of Qazi Abdul Qayyum Ahmed Qadar, who had defaulted on Rs76,506 property tax. The property is occupied by seven brothers and they have defaulted on the tax since 2012.
Initially, none of them was ready to pay the tax. As the team began auction process and two bidders came forward to purchase the property, family members cleared Rs76,506 dues. Residents of the locality appreciated NMC move. According to them, NMC should not delay taking stern action against defaulters.
The team then headed towards Bajeria to auction the property of Rukhmabai Khaparde, who had Rs1.53 lakh as outstanding tax. As nobody from among the family members nor two tenants in the ground plus one storey building turned up to pay the tax, the zone office invited bidders for the auction. Since no bidder came forward, the zone officer took possession of the premises in the name of Nagpur Municipal Corporation commissioner by declaring the property purchased by NMC for a token Re 1.
Another defaulter Rajendra Kashyap cleared his dues of Rs57,682 just before his ground plus two storey building was to be put up for auction. The team then reached Chitnispura to auction the property owned by two brothers Kavdu and Janardhan Dhande for a tax default of Rs1,62,635. Dhande tried to bring political pressure on officials, but Patil refused to budge and that forced Dhandes to pay up. The process continued till 4.30 pm. Auction of two properties — one owned by Gorelal Sharma (Rs91,142 outstanding tax) and another of Sitabai Jagde (Rs91,142 outstanding tax) would be held within a couple of days.
"If property owners don't want their properties to be sold, they should pay tax at the earliest,” said assistant commissioner and in-charge of property tax department Milind Meshram.
Lakadganj zone cancels auction
The Lakadganj zone cancelled auction of seven properties including cold storage and warehouse of Pravesh Enterprises, belonging to Pratibha Khandelwal’s family on plot no. 144 of NIT’s industrial area street scheme at Chikhli Layout in Kalamna, after their owners cleared the outstanding tax.
One of the seven defaulters, Ramkrishna Khandelwal deposited Rs1.05 lakh tax last week, while remaining six deposited Rs 11,03,000 on Monday, confirmed zone’s assistant municipal commissioner Subhash Jaidev.