A day after the MCD standing committee chairman discussed the proposal about asking the tenants in some areas to share the burden of property tax, the Congress councillors on Tuesday demanded that the tenants staying in custodian properties, both residential and non-residential, should be given ownership rights.
Leader of the Opposition, J.K. Sharma, said that the municipal commissioner should come up with a time-bound scheme for converting these rented properties to lease-hold as it would also benefit the civic body.
Mr Sharma pointed out that there were 10,625 residential and 3,770 non-residential custodian properties, which were given by the Central government at nominal rent to refugees who came here from Pakistan during partition. These properties were transferred to the MCD in 1966.
“In most of these properties situated in areas like Old Delhi, Mehrauli and Lajpat Nagar, the rent is negligible while the MCD spends `1 crore on maintenance every year. Giving lease-hold rights to tenants will benefit them as well as the MCD,” said Mr Sharma.
He said that the tenants were ready to pay the fee for converting the properties to lease-hold, which will bring revenue for the civic body.