Chandigarh, March 6
The Municipal Corporation has sanctioned 40 posts for tax, fee and legal branches while at the same time rejecting the levy of property tax in the current financial year.

There is general agreement that under the exiting work scenario, there is no justification in opting for mass-scale recruitment “except in case the corporation is serious about the property tax”.

There is enough indication that a big number of new appointments were sought only to handle matters concerning property tax.

A Congress councillor, however, said a decision on the matter did not mean anything because the Administration was the final sanctioning authority. There has been no official communication from the Administration in this regard.

Interestingly, the corporation has cleared Rs 7 lakh in the corporation budget on this account. The posts which have been cleared by the House include that of Section officers, Tax Inspector, Sub Inspector, Tax Collector, peons and driver.

The UT Administration sanctioned only one post of Assistant Collector (Tax) in May, 2002.

The UT Administration has seriously demanded a property tax of 5 per cent. A circular in this regard was forwarded to the corporation earlier. In the last financial year (2002-2003), the corporation had asked the Administration to reduce the tax from 5 per cent to 2 per cent. The Administration had rejected the proposal.

The corporation once again wrote to the Administration on the matter and received a similar response. Ultimately, no tax was cleared by the house.

BJP councillors point out that shelving the property tax proposal this year is a publicity stunt in the wake of the coming parliamentary elections. “Why appoint officials to collect tax when the decision is not being implemented, they ask.

The issue of posts remains undecided because none of the other posts have yet been cleared by the Administration. Approval for creation of these posts has been sought separately by the corporation.

Mrs Kamla Sharma, BJP councillor, says the contradictions in the tax were brought before the house. “We asked simply how could posts be sanctioned for work which was not to be done. Removing tax from the agenda is only a publicity stunt. After the poll, the posts will be created”, she says.