BBMP to put property tax assessments online

Move aimed at increasing efficiency of revenue collection

Property tax details for properties including this house in Royal Residency Layout, Bommanahalli, will be put online in four months' time.

By Krithika Krishnamurthy

BANGALORE (Sept. 22)—With the aim of ensuring it collects the property tax it is due, the municipal corporation will soon put online details of the 1.3 million properties under its jurisdiction in the city.

Seshadri, an IT adviser at the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, said the objectives of the program were to achieve “transparency” and “accountability” in the collection of property tax.

People often claim to use their property themselves, but actually rent it out, with the result that taxpayers are shelling out only half the property tax they are supposed to.

“Declaring the property tax details online will help citizens keep a watch on their neighbors and alert the system as well,” Seshadri said.

Shyam, the data center manager of the BBMP’s IT department, believes this move will not threaten people’s privacy.

“All information that you want about another’s property can be obtained through the RTI [Right to Information Act],” he said.

Good or bad idea?

Two Bangaloreans who spoke to The SoftCopy expressed mixed views over the move.

Varalakshmi, a housewife, said she saw no reason why the BBMP should publish her property tax details online. She sees it as an invitation for trouble more than anything else.

But Mrs. Nasim Khan, a social worker at the Rotary Club, is happy with the initiative and believes it will bring about the desires objectives of transparency and accountability.

“I don’t see how this makes a difference,” she said. “We are not the kind of people to be targeted by burglars or other intruders.”

No one exempted

Everyone’s property tax, including those of builders and other large taxpayers who, for commercial reasons, tend to prefer that such information is not in the public realm, will be published online.

Seshadri said no one’s details will be exempt from being published online. The exact format of the details to be published online will be decided by the revenue department.

The process of validating the property tax data was started by the BBMP two weeks ago. The corporation will put it on its website upon completion.