BMC to auction out 4 properties to recover property tax dues, first in 40 years

The four properties that will be auctioned include a land parcel of the Shanti Sadan CHS at Chunabhatti whose base price has been fixed at at Rs 47.09 crore having a space of 2,500 sqm, another plot of land owned by the Housing Commissioner of Bombay with a base price fixed at Rs 37 crore with an area of 3,000 square meter, a privately owned house with shops at South Mumbai’s Kalbadevi with a base price of Rs 26.01 crore with an area of 1,648 sqm and the privately owned Rajani Bungalow at Borivali, with a base price of Rs 10.43 crore with an area of 624 sqm.

“We have listed out all four properties and have issued public notices about the auction drive. At present, the registration process is ongoing. We will have an online auction on October 29, when buyers will submit their bids,” Vishwash Shankarwar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner, told The Indian Express on Friday.

In the past year, the BMC’s coffers have recorded a dip. According to data, the civic body’s fixed deposit has recorded a massive dip of Rs 12,000 crore in the past three years, as BMC’s overall fixed deposit, which stood at Rs 91,690 crore in 2021-22 came down to Rs 79,498 crore in 2024-25. In February, Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani announced several measures to generate revenue for the civic body during its budget announcement.

Earlier this month, BMC also announced selling of 426 housing units to generate revenue – a first-ever move taken by the BMC. Also, earlier this year, the BMC announced leasing out its own plots to private stakeholders to generate revenue.

Authorities levy a property tax, which is more like a cess, on all real estate and commercial properties located within the jurisdiction of the civic body.

Once the property owners default on paying taxes, the civic authorities send them notices with penalties. However, if the owners continue to default on the tax payment, then the properties are seized or attached temporarily, and put on auction, adhering to legal proceedings.

The last time a property was auctioned was in 1984, civic sources confirmed.

The BMC last month had set up an external agency to carry out the bidding process. Civic officials said that if the authorities fail to get responses from enough bidders, then a re-auction of the property may be taken up. The officials said that for a successful auction, a response from a minimum of three bidders needs to be recorded in the system.

“Most of these properties were entangled in legal proceedings since they have multiple owners. For example, the Rajani House has seven owners. Therefore, there was an issue with these properties on who is going to pay the taxes, and the legal proceedings went on for a very long period of time. Therefore, it has been decided now to recover the tax amount, the properties will be auctioned out, and if there is any balance amount due, then it may be equally divided among the owners,” the officer said.

The authorities said that initially, five properties were listed. However, one of the property owners had settled the dues just before the auction notice was published. The base price of the auction has been fixed based on the ready reckoner rates.

Property tax is among the highest sources of revenue for BMC, which collected Rs 6,011 crore this year against an annual target of Rs 6,200 crore, till March 31. The BMC authorities maintained that this year, they made the highest-ever property tax collection in BMC’s history.