SRINAGAR: After a failed attempt in 2020, Lt Governor administration in Jammu and Kashmir is again mulling imposing the property tax in Union Territory from April 1 this year. Initially, the authorities may impose property tax on commercial buildings and exempt residential structures.
The government decision has been communicated to Principal Secretary of, Housing and Urban Development Department, Dheeraj Gupta by J&K Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta. An official memo quoting Administrative Council decision No. 13/1/2023 dated 22-02-2023, reads, “The Administrative Council approved the proposal (for levy of property tax in the Urban Local Bodies of J&K) with the direction that the proposed Property Tax, which will take effect on April 1 2023, shall be levied at half of the proposed formula.”
The Administrative Council is led by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and comprises all his advisors and Chief Secretary. Sources said the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUDD), which is working on a proposal to impose property tax in the UT, might initially impose property tax on commercial establishments and exempt residential buildings.
The slabs for imposition of property Tax, they said, are being worked out. In October 2020, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) empowered the J&K administration to impose the property tax after an amendment to the J&K Municipal Act, 2000 and J&K Municipal Corporation Act, 2000 through the J&K Reorganisation (Adaption of State Laws) order, 2020.
According to the amendments carried out in Jammu & Kashmir Municipal Act-2000 and J&K Municipal Corporation Act-2000, property tax shall be levied on all lands and buildings or vacant lands within the municipal area.
All the political parties, traders and civil society groups in J&K had opposed any imposition of property tax in J&K, which has been witnessing turmoil and militancy since 1990. After facing flak, the administration dropped the plan of imposing property tax in J&K with Lt Governor Sinha asserting that the government won’t impose any property tax in J&K. The administration would be expecting less resentment from the political parties.