In a significant move to clean up its financial records, the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) has officially written off a massive sum of ₹33.62 crore in property tax arrears deemed uncollectable. This decision, approved by the corporation council, marks the first phase of addressing long-pending demands that had accumulated to over ₹80 crore.
Cleaning the Books: Why the Waiver Was Necessary
Property and vacant land taxes are a vital revenue stream for the GMC, generating an annual demand of around ₹300 crore. However, for years, collection rates have stagnated between 50 to 60 percent. This gap was largely attributed to administrative lapses and a growing mountain of old, unrealistic dues.
GMC Commissioner Puli Srinivasulu explained that a comprehensive study of these pending dues led to the waiver decision. "We took up a comprehensive study of the long-pending dues and decided to waive off certain assessments from the records by following due diligence," Srinivasulu stated. He emphasized that every record would be made public and that the exercise was designed to help the corporation focus on collecting genuine dues and meet its targets.
Root Causes of the Uncollectable Arrears
The scrutiny revealed a catalogue of errors and outdated records that created these "uncollectable" demands. Key issues identified included:
- Over-assessment of taxes on properties.
- Buildings that had been demolished but were still listed on the tax rolls.
- Duplicate assessments for the same property.
- Properties that no longer exist due to various reasons.
- Old houses redeveloped into apartments without corresponding updates in the tax records.
- Premises that have been locked and vacant for a very long time.
- Court-ordered reductions in tax that were not reflected.
- Merged assessment numbers where one entry was incorrectly retained.
A Rigorous Verification Process
To identify these anomalies, Commissioner Srinivasulu conducted multiple review rounds with officials. Senior officials, including deputy commissioners, were deputed for field inspections. They worked alongside ward administrative secretaries and revenue staff to conduct spot verifications and validate the status of each questionable assessment.
After this thorough scrutiny, authorities decided to cancel demands totalling ₹33.62 crore across 4,337 individual assessments. The recent council approval formally removes these amounts from the pending procedures.
Addressing Concerns and Future Steps
While the move is aimed at achieving accurate record-keeping and improving overall collection efficiency, it has raised questions about the original assessment process. Concerns have emerged regarding the impartiality of the reviews and whether any leniency was shown to influential entities.
Commissioner Srinivasulu addressed these concerns head-on, asserting that the process was transparent and objective. "I would not spare anyone if any irregularity was found during the scrutiny to grant favour to any taxpayer," he said. He clarified that the exercise was solely intended to clean up the records, not to encourage tax evasion.
"It is part of a broader effort to streamline revenue collection and reduce unrealistic demands that hamper overall recovery rates," the Commissioner added. He confirmed that GMC would continue to scrutinize anomalies in the remaining long-standing assessments, potentially offering more relief while ensuring that genuine taxpayers are not burdened by faulty records.
