Authorities asked to desist from revising DC valuation rates

Rawalpindi : Several people have appealed to authorities concerned in Rawalpindi district to shun a revision of Deputy Commissioner Valuation Table of property for the year 2020-2021 due to financial crunch amid coronavirus outbreak. They have demanded of Deputy Commissioner Captain (r) Anwar ul Haq to desist from revising the DC valuation rates of property and freeze them at the existing ratio.

Thousands of people have filed an application to Senior Member Board of Revenue (Punjab), Commissioner Rawalpindi Division, District Bar Association (DBA) President and Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue (ADCR) and appealed to them to maintain ‘Valuation Table’ at previous rates.

The affected clients have filed an application through Advocate High Court Mian Muhammad Shahid, Advocate Mian Muhammad Waqas Ashraf, Advocate Chaudhry Shahid Imran and Advocate Atif Sajid.

While talking to ‘The News’ Advocate High Court Mian Muhammad Shahid if the DC rate is revised by 10 to 20 per cent then the property rates in rural and urban areas will jump to an alarming proportion.

“If DC rate is revised, then public will probably pay higher taxes for registration of 1-kanal house in Scheme-III and Westridge areas. Already, residents of Scheme-III, Westridge and other posh areas are paying taxes of up to Rs3,600,000 to 4,000,000 on a registry of 1-kanal,” he added.

Muhammad Safdar Awan, a resident of Adiyala Road, said that Excise and Taxation (Rawalpindi) office was closed because of lockdown. “We cannot get NOC for transfer of property but revenue officials are demanding NOC which was illegal,” he added.

Advocate High Court Mian Muhammad Shahid, advocate Mian Muhammad Waqas Ashraf, Advocate Chaudhry Shahid Imran, and Advocate Atif Sajid told ‘The News’ that the public is already facing financial difficulties to register a document because of heavy taxes. We have appealed to the authorities concerned to maintain previous property rates, they said.

They said that according to the Stamp Act, the deputy commissioner will have to summon the residents of the concerned area before increasing property rates. But deputy commissioner is not following this procedure, which is illegal. With no consultation of public, deputy commissioner is increasing the rates of the property only to increase taxes, they alleged. If citizens have concerns about ‘Valuation Table’ then nobody could increase the rates, the lawyers said.

They also said that DC rates in some areas are already high than market prices. They also said that the government should also abolish rates of upper portion because according to Stamp Rules 27-A (2) there is no concept of upper portion rates. “We appeal to the government to maintain previous property rates to facilitate public, they said.

Additional District Collector General (ADCG) Zaheer Anwar Jappa said we are discussing on this issue. We also wanted to provide maximum relief of public on all property-related matters, he added.