Over 23,000 property owners have been issued show-cause notices for allegedly declaring incorrect built-up areas, resulting in an estimated loss of ₹688 crore to civic bodies, said Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner for Revenue and IT.

Mr. Moudgil said these properties were identified using drone survey data obtained from the Revenue Department, followed by field verifications to filter out any incorrect flaggings. Nearly 170 of the 198 wards in the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike have been covered in the drone survey carried out by the Revenue Department.

“There is a misconception that we have relied solely on drone survey reports. Our officials have visited the sites, reviewed the properties and floors, and taken photographs. After that, we issued show-cause notices to those who had declared incorrect details,” Mr. Moudgil said.

Bengaluru corporations are revising the tax demand by verifying the actual built-up area and serving show-cause notices. Mr. Moudgil said that earlier they were able to revise 15,000 properties in one year, whereas now they were able to do that many in 15 days. This system, according to GBA sources, has increased the revenue base of the newly formed corporations.

“Most people do not declare commercial usage of properties or tenants. Those who have issues with the revision have approached the court, and they are welcome to do so,” he said.

The revision exercise was also discussed during the Question Hour in the Karnataka Assembly, with Leader of Opposition R. Ashok describing it as ‘property tax terrorism’.

Over 1 lakh properties have tax dues

Mr. Moudgil said that over one lakh properties in the city have tax arrears, accounting for nearly 5% of the total properties. Recently, the corporations initiated the auction of properties belonging to long-standing property tax defaulters.

When asked whether auctioning was the right approach to clear dues, Mr. Moudgil said that all other options had been exhausted. “Even before initiating auctions, we sent notices to clear arrears, but most did not respond, so we had to adopt this approach.” He clarified that all property owners whose properties were auctioned were given notices and ample opportunities even before attachment.