New Delhi: Airport Authority of India, Indian Railway, Delhi Zoo, state-run NTPC, DDA, Delhi University are among a host of defaulters listed by the south corporation which have been served notices for failing to pay property taxes, a senior official of the SDMC Tuesday said.
Top officials at the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said the outstanding dues from such parties have incurred huge losses to the civic body.
Delhi Zoo, a favourite hang-out for city dwellers, now faces a closure threat, as it has "not paid" the property tax to the corporation, "since its inception".
"Property tax worth about Rs 15 crore is due from Delhi Zoo since 2004. We have already served them several notices, including a show cause notice, followed by a demand notice. But, so far no response has been received from the Zoo side, except a few visit by their officials, Deputy Collector, SDMC, Amit Gupta told PTI.
He said, notification has been sent to their banks too, to attach Delhi Zoo's bank account but so far no action has been initiated from their (bank's) side either.
"We may now take further action, but we are trying to have a dialogue with the Zoo authorities to resolve the matter," SDMC Assessor and Collector Rajesh Pathak said.
"We may even have to take penal action like sealing the property but, we are looking to resolve this matter with the Zoo," Pathak said.
"And, we are only asking the amount applicable since the Unit Area Method (UAM) system was brought in by the corporation. But, that too they are not willing to pay," Gupta said.
When contacted, a senior official of DDA said, "We do not have any comment to make as the matter is sub judice."
Delhi Zoo curator said, "We do not have any details. We will look into into the matter and the Zoo's director will be informed about the pendency."
In his reaction, Delhi University's Media Coordinator and Joint Dean of Students' Welfare Malay Neerav said, "I will have to check with the department concerned to know whether we have received any such notice or not."
Set up in the mid-1950s, Delhi Zoo comes under the Central Zoo Authority (CZA).
According to SDMC officials, Delhi Zoo is arguing that, "It (Zoo) need not pay taxes to the corporation, unless an agreement was done under the Union government and the SDMC."
"But, we have trying to tell the Zoo authorities that under the DMC Act, they are liable to pay taxes to us," Gupta said.
UAM, a metric system to calculate property tax was introduced by the then unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in 2004. The MCD was in 2012 trifurcated into North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), SDMC and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).
Gupta said that private companies running commercial properties like malls and multiplexes are better off in terms of payment of property taxes, vis-a-vis government establishments.
State-run power giant National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Delhi Development Authority, Sports Authority of India, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Limited, Delhi Transco, BSES, PWD are among other defaulters, the SDMC said.
Delhi University, National Law University, DDCA, All India Institute of Ayurveda, Indian Council of Forestry Research, DAMB and India Habitat Centre also have property taxes due to the civic body.
Matters concerning some of these properties are sub judice too, Gupta said.
He said copies of notices sent to the zoo were also sent to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, but "we have not received any response from them either."
Property tax and service tax are two of the major sources of revenue for civic bodies.
