The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has resumed the property-tax concession for senior citizens after applications remained pending since the Assembly election period, with the civic body restarting the approval process in the first week of September.
The concession applies to taxpayers aged 60 and above, who are eligible for a 10% reduction in property tax under Kolkata Municipal Corporation rules. Retired defence personnel are eligible for a higher concession of 25%, subject to the applicable requirements.
More than 300 applications had reportedly been held up since the end of March. These included fresh applications from taxpayers seeking the concession for the first time, as well as renewal applications from people whose previous three-year eligibility period had expired.
The delay followed the introduction of the Model Code of Conduct ahead of the Assembly elections. Civic officials differed over whether approving the concessions during the election process would amount to a new administrative decision or whether it was merely the continuation of an existing statutory provision. One view was that the concession was granted every year under a specific legal provision and did not represent a new policy announcement. Others argued that caution was necessary while the election process was under way.
The issue remained unresolved after the elected board of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation was dissolved following the change in the state administration. Smita Pandey was appointed as the municipal administrator, leaving applications for the senior-citizen concession pending until the civic tax department discussed the matter with her and received approval to proceed.
The property-tax department has since begun examining the applications that were held up and is processing both new requests and renewals. Officials are expected to verify the applicant’s age, taxpayer identity, property-tax assessment and supporting documents before approving the concession.
Under the municipal system, an approved applicant receives the concession for three consecutive years. A fresh renewal application is required after that period. Senior citizens may also qualify for other reductions by paying property tax within the prescribed period, while online payment can provide an additional concession under the applicable rules.
The civic body has advised applicants to submit the required documents and information so that their requests can be processed. The department is handling the disposal of older applications alongside the acceptance of new applications, according to information attributed to municipal sources.
The restoration brings back a long-standing property-tax provision, but the pending applications show how election-related administrative uncertainty can interrupt routine civic services even when the underlying benefit is not a new policy. The municipal tax department’s ongoing verification and disposal of applications will determine how quickly the backlog is cleared.
