The Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has planned to take strict action against defaulters, with only a few owners adhering to the extended deadline for payment of property tax.

It is estimated that the owners will pay the property tax by March 31. But the deadline was postponed to November 30 due to the pandemic, only half the owners paid the tax.

There are about 15,000 to 20,000 properties in the Cantonment area, as per SCB officials. SCB is expected to collect approximately Rs 20 to Rs 25 crore for property tax, but we have only collected Rs 10 crore so far, SCB CEO B Ajith Reddy said. Hundreds of works planned in the eight wards were postponed due to lack of funds.

Interestingly, for the first time, the SCB has agreed to serve prosecution notices to tax defaulters. Before initiating the notice, they followed the opinion of legal experts. The court will issue these notifications to the defaulters. For residential properties, this is applicable.

Instead of issuing prosecution notices, they are also planning to seal commercial properties. A final decision will soon be made, and the process of serving notices will soon begin.

By: Shailaja K