Tambaram Corporation cons woman into paying excess property tax

CHENNAI: Among the multitude of scams that target the unsuspecting public, here’s one where the con was perpetrated by none other than the Tambaram Corporation against a denizen. The con? Collect more property tax.

“Tambaram Corporation conned me, and collected more property tax for my house,” alleged S Kamala. “Others pay Rs 1,620/year, but I was asked to pay five times more.”

Kamala had purchased a property in 1996 on Rajendra Prasad Road in Nehru Nagar, Chromepet, which was under the Pallavaram Municipality then. The original assessment number of the property was 007/55429. Following the merger with the Tambaram Corporation, a new assessment number 009/035/902801 was assigned to the property. However, Kamala had failed to pay the tax for the property after 2015.

In 2023, Kamala paid Rs 85,246 as property tax for 2016-2021. At the time, Tambaram officials had told Kamala that tax would be increased for all residents, and since she had many arrears, she had to pay the new tax tariff for all the dues over the years.

“Now, for 2024-2025, I received an SMS from the Corporation to pay Rs 11,796 towards property tax but other residents in my apartment are paying only Rs 1,600/year,” she lamented.

Kamala mentioned that the officials, while creating a new assessment number, made a blunder in grouping the property to a new Ward 36 while the property is located in Ward 35. “How can an immovable property be relocated to another ward with such ease?” she added.

Jayaram, an activist from Tambaram, said that as per the website, the old Assessment Number was cancelled on March 28, 2019, with the remarks that there were no dues as of that date. This is a kind of ‘No Dues Certificate’ issued by officials for the old Assessment Number as of March 28, 2019.

“So, how can officials collect tax arrears from 2016-17 to 2018-19 after issuing this certificate?” he stated. “The resident clearly did have any knowledge about the taxes, and has paid more than Rs 85,000 to the Corporation, which is a kind of robbery committed by the officials.”

When contacted, Tambaram Corporation Commissioner said that he would look into the issue “take steps to resolve the situation for the resident immediately”