The state legislative assembly on Monday passed The West Bengal Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and The West Bengal Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 2024, mandating a 10% increase in the annual valuation of lands and buildings in municipal and corporation areas every five years.

According to the bills presented in the assembly, the relevant municipalities and municipal corporations will be responsible for increasing the annual value of any immovable property by ten percent based on the last assessment every five years, until the new provisions for reassessment come into effect.

“This is a process of rationalisation of calculation of property value and our government is determined to bring uniformity across the state,” urban development minister Firhad Hakim said at the assembly on Monday.

Claiming that these amendments will make the property tax determination process in urban and suburban areas more scientific and technology-driven, the minister said: “This system is the first step towards introducing unit area assessment in all municipal areas across the state, following Calcutta’s model.”

This reform aims to streamline property tax calculation and improve compliance through self-assessment and self-declaration mechanisms. While the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has adopted the Unit Area Assessment (UAA) process, the valuation process has just been introduced in the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation areas and some other municipalities, including Kalyani Municipality.

“We believe in people and will allow them to assess their properties through a proper mechanism. A chart, outlined by the municipalities and corporations, will be there for their benefit. The property owner will prepare their assessment form and submit it to the authorities,” Hakim added.

The minister clarified that failure to file self-assessment returns within the stipulated time or deliberate suppression of property details will be treated as wilful suppression of facts, and any misrepresentation or inaccuracies in self-declarations will incur a penalty of 30% of the property tax.

Sources said the valuation of properties would be determined by applying multiple factors to base unit area values, accounting for variables such as location, property usage, structure age, occupancy status, and other relevant factors for covered and vacant lands.

“The new framework will address long-term updates to property valuations, marking a significant shift in West Bengal’s property tax system to improve transparency, accountability and revenue collection for municipal corporations,” said an official.

“These amendments are very unscientific. It is only designed to get more revenue. There cannot be any uniform rule to assess the health of a property. It should be physically verified. This uniform pattern will only lead to confusion,” BJP MLA Biswanath Karak said.