Property Tax
The Registration & Stamps (R&S) Department and Hyderabad city’s civic body, GHMC
(Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation), are currently locked in a heated dispute over
collection of property taxes & vacant land taxes for properties registered within the limits of
Greater Hyderabad. The GHMC has alleged that SROs (Sub-Registrar Offices) are registering
properties & carrying out transactions of sale deeds, gift deeds, mortgage deeds, will deeds &
partition deeds without collecting dues of property tax & vacant land tax.
The R&S department has claimed that there is no such provision in their rules to insist on
providing no dues certificate or the latest property tax receipt. The Commissioner of GHMC,
Lokesh Kumar recently addressed a letter to the Commissioner & Inspector General of R&S
dept. willing him to issue orders to all SROs within GHMC limits to ensure no dues certificate
are collected from a prospective property applicant at the time of registration or up-to-date
payment receipt of property tax at the time of property registration as per Section 208 of the
GHMC Act, 1955.
Registration & Stamps department officials said they follow the procedures prescribed under
Registration Act, 1908, during a co-ordination meeting. A senior R&S department official said
“We are not supposed to insist property tax or no dues certificate and deny registration. Second,
why should our department bother about their (GHMC) property tax collection? If we insist for
no dues, it will take time and affect our revenue badly.”
GHMC Commissioner Lokesh Kumar had reportedly instructed tax inspectors to visit SROs &
collect registration details but R&S department officials refused to share details and denied
divulging of any information which is not allowed as per department rules.
