Tribune News Service
Jammu/Srinagar, February 21
The Jammu and Kashmir administration ordered on Tuesday the imposition of property tax in municipal areas of the Union Territory from April 1. The tax rates will be five per cent of taxable annual value (TAV) for residential properties and six per cent for commercial properties, it stated.
Meanwhile, The National Conference demanded immediate rollback of the notification, saying it smacks of arbitrariness.
Responding to the notification, party’s state spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said, “The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been at the receiving end economically since 2019 due to the losses suffered because of the restrictions imposed from August 5 that year and subsequent Covid-19-induced lockdowns. Imposition of the property tax will further push the people to the wall. Such decisions will make the situation even worse.”
Questioning the haste in which such decisions are taken in absence of a democratically elected government, Dar said, “Such matters should be left to an elected government. The people’s representatives must be given an opportunity to discuss these issues. Unfortunately such important issues don’t face public scrutiny in the current bureaucratic set up. It has become a habit of those in power in Delhi to issue orders, irrespective of their impact or public opinion.”
He termed this decision anti-people and a grave injustice and demanded its immediate rollback. “Such revenue generation measures must be left to a democratically elected government in J&K,” he added.
In October 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) empowered the Jammu and Kashmir 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, property tax shall be levied on all lands and buildings or vacant lands within municipal limits. (With agency inputs)
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(Inputs from www.tribuneindia.com)
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