With Rs 7.48 crore owed by house tax defaulters, the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) has decided to crack the whip to get what rightfully belongs to it. The civic body plans to start with government departments. Mayor Surendra Furtado on Friday moved a note to CCP commissioner Dipak Dessai asking him to take urgent action to recover outstanding dues by attaching government offices.
According to data released by the CCP on its website, there are 183 house tax defaulters with Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) leading the list with Rs 1.47 crore owed to the civic body. Incidentally, CCP has managed to recover Rs 22.63 lakh from ESG, which organizes the famed International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
The other government departments that have defaulted on their payments include tourism, information and technology, customs and central excise and the regional passport office.
The mayor’s note comes at a time when the government has decided to take up geographic information system (GIS) mapping of Panaji through the Smart City Mission to identify tax defaulters and improve collection. “The situation is very serious and speaks of the inefficiency of CCP officers, who are empowered to recover dues by taking coercive action under provisions of the CCP Act,” Furtado said.
Furtado has asked Dessai to recover the outstanding arrears by issuing attachment warrants under provisions of the Civil Procedure Code. The list also includes names of some of Goa’s biggest business houses and real estate groups.
