JAMMU, Feb 22: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday decided to levy property tax on people living within the jurisdiction of urban local bodies across the Union territory with effect from April 1, inviting criticism from political parties.
Notifying rules for the levy, assessment and collection of property tax in municipalities and municipal councils, a notification issued by the Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department, H Rajesh Prasad, said these rules shall be called as Jammu and Kashmir Property Tax (Other Municipalities) Rules, 2023, and “these shall come into force from April 1, 2023’’. This has been done in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 71A of the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000, read with Sub-Section 1 of Section 65 and Sub Section 1 of Section 73, the notification added.
Former J&K chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah termed the decision “unjust”.
“No Taxation Without Representation. Why should people in J&K pay state taxes including the proposed property tax when we have no say in how our government is run & no say in the decision making of J&K. We are expected to be mute spectators to all unjust decisions by Raj Bhavan,” he tweeted.
In a statement, the National Conference questioned the haste in which such decisions are taken in absence of a democratically elected government, and demanded a rollback of the order. “Such matters should be left to an elected government. The people’s representatives must be given an opportunity to discuss these issues. Unfortunately, such important issues don’t face public scrutiny in the current bureaucratic set up. It has become a habit of those in power in Delhi to issue orders, irrespective of their impact or public opinion,” the party said.
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