T’puram: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the city corporation is set to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and technology-driven systems to track and recover around Rs 200 crore in outstanding property tax, with govt institutions, courts and other public establishments accounting for a substantial share of the arrears.The civic body has collected around Rs 160 crore against total property tax dues estimated at nearly Rs 360 crore.While property tax defaults are spread across various categories of property owners, a significant portion of the pending amount is reportedly owed by govt establishments and other institutions, making recovery a major challenge for the corporation. Corporation officials have held preliminary discussions on using AI and other technology tools to identify defaulters, analyse tax records and strengthen the recovery mechanism.Mayor V V Rajesh told TOI that the corporation was looking at technology to make property tax collection more efficient and to ensure that large-scale arrears do not remain pending for years.The idea for the proposed technology-based recovery system emerged during Rajesh’s recent visit to the United States, where he interacted with IT experts.The corporation is now examining how such a system could be adapted to its existing property tax database and administrative mechanisms. The proposed system could potentially help the civic body consolidate information on properties, identify long-pending arrears and flag major defaulters for targeted follow-up.Officials are also looking at how technology can help reduce delays in identifying properties with outstanding dues and improve monitoring of recovery proceedings. A comprehensive presentation is expected to be prepared after the next round of consultations.The move assumes significance as property tax is one of the corporation’s major sources of its own revenue. A substantial gap between the tax assessed and the amount actually collected affects the civic body’s ability to finance infrastructure development and provide essential services.The corporation is expected to examine the legal and administrative aspects of recovering dues from govt departments, courts and other public institutions as part of the exercise.The corporation’s revenue wing has been a total failure in collecting property taxes. Many state and central establishments haven’t paid property tax despite several demand notices from the civic body. An official of the revenue wing said that they issue a demand notice every six months to the defaulters. Property tax payments and grievance redressal have progressively shifted to digital portals like K-Smart to streamline tracking and minimise database or collection discrepancies. However, the defaulters are still evading the tax payment.
