ISLAMABAD   -  The Capital Development Authority’s Revenue Directorate has started extorting money from the citizens by sending them fictitious property tax bills.

A large number of property owners while talking to The Nation have complained that they were served excessive property bills by mentioning thousands of rupees as arrears without having backup calculations. People who come up to get information about the exact details of their outstanding dues under the head of property tax are forced by the concerned officials to show their own record of deposit slips instead of showing the official record or the calculation.

For instance, a house owner of the sector G-11 was billed for an amount of Rs.560,000 including Rs.490,000 as arrears but when he visited the revenue directorate to know about the exact details, he became astonished that the concerned officials did not have any calculation behind the bill. “First, I was asked by the CDA official to show your last deposit slip but when I informed him that I don’t have it right now, he asked me to submit the bill,” a citizen informed, adding; “However, I requested him that the bill was issued by your department and it is your duty to explain the rationale behind it but the official replied we don’t have your record.”

Meanwhile, it has been learnt from reliable sources that there is no up to date record of property tax in the revenue directorate and they are sending lump sum bills by making huge arrears. If the property owner luckily has its previous record in its hand and he has the courage to visit CDA time and again then his bill would be settled as per the record provided by the citizen himself otherwise he will have to bribe someone to get the bill corrected. A senior officer of the authority has said that sending fictitious bills to property owners is not legally justified as if the amount mentioned in the bill is more than the actual tax amount then it will cause damage to said private individual and if it is less than the original tax then it will made loss to the public exchequer. On the other side, the revenue officials claimed unofficially while talking to this scribe that the practice to send excessive bills was initiated on the verbal directions of the high ups to sensitize the public and bring them into the property tax net.

However, when questioned why the revenue officials are not updating their own record to calculate the exact property tax, they complained that the building control section is not cooperating with them as they have written multiple letters to obtain the building plan approvals and construction period details of properties to calculate the tax but their response is yet awaited. When contacted, the Member Finance CDA Tahir Naeem Akhtar, who is actively pursuing the enhancement of revenue and improvement in the financial discipline has said he is unaware of said practice of sending excessive bills. He explained further that there are some issues with the online system but same would be resolved on priority basis as public service is our top priority.