Order all departments to pay house tax dues, Himachal Pradesh HC tells chief secretary

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh high court on Thursday asked the chief secretary to direct all the concerned departments to make payment of house tax within four weeks. It also directed the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) to make effective recoveries within 4 weeks.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice D C Chaudhary passed these orders on a petition taken up suo moto by the court regarding non-realization of house tax by the municipal corporation.The court posted the matter for April 23.
In an affidavit filed before the court, commissioner SMC stated that after the high court took cognizance of the matter, the corporation was able to recover an amount of Rs 3.66 crore against total due of Rs 5.50 crore.
He said that now an amount of Rs 1.83 crore was to be recovered from remaining 557 defaulters, which included an amount of Rs 50 lakh from six government departments, boards and corporation. The SMC ahd finalized the property taxation bylaws and notified the same on February 13, 2015. Annual assessment notices were in process of being issued to the owners and occupiers of lands and buildings falling within municipal corporation limits. SMC had also engaged the consultant to carry out house to house survey of properties and prepare property tax database.