KARACHI, Sept 18: The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) has issued notices to Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) and Karachi Electricity Company (KESC) for recovery of millions of rupees in property tax dues.

The District Officer Property and Entertainment Tax, CDGK, has asked the PTCL and the KESC to clear Rs199.7 million and Rs37.67 million, respectively, outstanding property dues immediately.

The notice sent to the Executive Vice-President Operations PTCL, South, says that in the event of non-payment of tax dues the department will be compelled to initiate action under the Land Revenue Act, 1967.

However, PTCL subordinate offices had failed to clear the outstanding dues despite repeated reminders.

The PTCL executive was also informed in the notice that the appeal and revision application dated 16-11-2007 had already been rejected by the competent authority.

Therefore, the utility company was advised to arrange payment of the outstanding dues of property tax immediately to avoid any local recourse/coercive measures.

Dawn has made several attempts to reach the PTCL executive vice-president but his secretary said he was busy in a meeting.

The city government district officer in a similar notice to the KESC advised it to ensure payment of the outstanding tax dues immediately to avoid any legal action.

The notice also attached a list of division-wise properties of KESC on which tax was outstanding.

Mohammad Sami, KESC Deputy General Manager

Real Estate, told Dawn that the delay in payment might be due to change of guards as the power utility had no management for the last one and half months.

He said that his company received a number of property tax challans and paid the amount if the tax had been correctly assessed.

“Where there is a dispute on tax assessment the company challenges the same,” he added.

He showed his ignorance about the particular notice saying that the KESC has over 160 property units in 11 divisions.

It may be pointed out that the under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance property tax and entertainment tax have been devolved and its proceeds are transferred to the city district government.

The responsibility of collection of these taxes however rest with the Ministry of Excise and Taxation.

Director General Excise and Taxation Asif Marghoub Siddiqui told Dawn that these utility companies act quickly to disconnect services in case of non-payment of bills by their consumers, but they do not bother to pay their tax liabilities towards other departments.

The property tax collection fell by Rs25 million to Rs1,276.5 million in 2007-08 against Rs1301.6 million collected in 2006-07. The decline was due to non-payment by some big defaulters who had moved courts to avoid action by the department for recovery of its dues.