In the year 2017, the Chennai Corporation (later called Greater Chennai Corporation or GCC), started imposing a tax on vacant land within its boundaries. This was to discourage land hoarders—and more importantly, to increase their revenue.
A simple way to pass on generational wealth that was accessible to the common man, became less economical. It might be justified if the government did a better job of enforcing land grabbing laws in the city, but it is not the case. Police for their part, in cahoots with the politicians impose their own tax.
The vacant land tax seems to have been initiated by other urban bodies in Tamil Nadu, and the other states too, around the same time.
I had inherited one such parcel of land in 2008 and had to pay my dues, before I could exercise my rights to develop it. But as usual, this straight forward task was made needlessly tedious, by our government officers and politicians, and an opportunity for them to profit.
The Chennai Corporation's Revenue Department has very detailed information on their website explaining all their procedures and the formula for calculating the vacant land tax. Along with the Basic Street Rate (BSR), for zone 13 I was able to get an idea of the tax I would have to pay.
I also found a document explaining the SOP for all revenue department procedures and another document giving the SOP specifically for new assessment of property tax. The process for vacant land tax assessment was essentially the same as any regular property tax assessment that you make for a built house or any other structure. The entire process had an SLA of 30 days. There was also a website where an online application can be made for the assessment, in addition to other services.
So far, so good, and I was happy with our Digital India!
I completed the form and tried to submit the application, and I got a 502 error—looks like our officials had managed to sabotage the online process. What is advantageous for the citizen, is likely, not so for them.
There was a paper form for new tax assessment that came up in search results, but it had umpteen columns and details, that I decided to go to the zonal office in Adyar to enquire. I have too many scars from my engineering college days, when highly educated lab staff would throw my meticulously crafted record out, for not having used the same format as my seniors. Yes, they too had a government job, and they knew it comes with some perks—no one can take it away from them.
One Monday, I reached LB Road in Adyar and walked past a Bolero and a Fortuner to enter into the office on the ground floor. I grew an inch shorter as I realized, no one really cared what entered their office. Everyone where busy with their work. I felt like a ghost, or should I say, the invisible man?
I slowly assessed who might be least annoyed, when I disturb them. Sitting right next to the entrance was a person, slightly older than me, looking busily at some files—I decided he would be my best bet.
"Sir, I want to enquire about vacant land tax...", I said, approaching him. He cut me off replying, "Give the letter to him". He was pointing to the desk in the centre of the room. There were a few people standing there and one of them was doing all the talking. Happy that I did not take more of the officer's precious time, I approached the clerk.
"No, no form. Just give a letter.", he said. "Attach a copy of the sale deed and patta. And don't forget to attach the EC". EC stood for Encumbrance Certificate, a document that provides the list of transactions pertaining to a specific survey number. Proud that I already knew that, I returned home.
Only then it struck me, that I did not know, whom the letter needs to be addressed to. I went through the documents that I had, and the SOP mentioned the Assistant Revenue Officer in a number of places—I decided he was my man.
Here is the format of the letter I had used, in case you find it useful. Use LibreOffice to open and edit.
I put all the documents in a green, cloth-lined envelope and carried an additional copy of the letter that I could get dated, stamped and signed by the clerk as an acknowledgement. This is the SOP that needs to be followed when submitting documents to the government—I had learnt this from my father.
"What Sir, should I do all the work? Take the letter out of the envelope and give it to me. Write your name and phone number on the top", said the letter clerk when I gave it to him.
"Yes, sure", I removed the documents, underlined my name and phone number that were already there on the letter and handed them to him. I was proud of my forethought,
The letter clerk duly dated, stamped and signed my acknowledgement copy.
"Sir, when will it be ready?" I asked sheepishly.
"Sir is in a meeting. He will call you", he replied. I glanced furtively at the designation on the board outside Sir's room. It said—Assistant Revenue Officer.
After submitting the letter, I waited for 2 more weeks. I did not have much hope for any SMS as mentioned in the SOP. But I wanted at least, half of the SLA to be past, before I ask for the status—I didn't want to annoy the officers.
I went to the Zonal office once again and enquired with the letter clerk. "Sir, just left now. All the officers are having a meeting in the Ripon building. You do one thing. Call this number. He is the assessor. He will tell you the amount", he replied.
I called the assessor, and he asked to come by the local corporation office at Brindavan Nagar Main Road the next day. When I reached there, only his assistant was present.
"What is the area?", he grabbed the calculator lying on his desk.
"Yes, tax will be for the entire 7 years", he proceeded to calculate the amount and pointed to the numbers that showed up on its liquid crystal display.
"You have to give a DD for the amount. Only after you give the DD, we can enter into the system. Call Sir. He will tell you the correct amount.", he concluded.
I thanked him and moved to a bench away from his desk and called the assessor.
"Did you send the letter by post?", he asked. "Ah… OK. I haven't received the documents yet from Adyar. I will call you once I get it.", he said, ending the call.
I went back home, nervously waiting for the call. The assessor called after a few days.
"What is the plot number? Where does the Sri Krishna Nagar come?", he asked.
"Sir, it is an unapproved layout and your department is no longer using the original name.", I replied.
"OK, can you submit a copy of the parent sale deed where the plot number is mentioned?"
"Yes", I replied.
The day after, I took the document copies to the Brindavan Nagar Main Road office and gave it to the assistant. "Sir, is in Velachery office. I will give it to him, when he comes by", he said.
After some chit-chat, he hinted, "I don't know when the assessor will come. If you want, I can go and give the documents in Velachery today itself."
I sensed in his voice, the hope of making a few hundred rupees to indulge in his favourite vice. I was not going to fall for his sweet talk. "Sir said, he will collect it when he comes by", I replied firmly.
• • •
"Your tax will be Rs. 23,200", the assessor finally called around a week later, quite late in the evening. "Bring a DD for the amount tomorrow.", he reminded.
This was the same amount that the clerk showed on the calculator. Until now, I had not given any bribe to the assessor. Neither did he ask for it. I wanted to see, how far I could hold.
But, why did he ask for a DD? The SOP clearly said that the assessor would raise the notice for tax with the bill number, and we could pay it through a number of channels including, online payment or swipe a card at one of the ward offices. The amount that I had to pay was significant.
"What if the assessor misused the DD or delayed the process after I give it to him?", I asked my mom in trepidation.
"Government officers will not do such things", she assured.
This sounded very naive, but 35 years of experience in the education department of the Tamil Nadu State Government, should count for something.
"He will write your name and the bill number in the back of the DD", she assured. This sounded like a better advice.
"I will write my name myself", I said, happy that the DD cannot be misused to pay tax for someone else.
The assessor could still, simply deny receiving the DD, while still raising the bill. But this would only be an attempt to spite me, and he could not personally profit from it.
Still, I decided to leave nothing to chance. "I will take a photo copy of the DD and get it signed by the assessor as an acknowledgement", I declared.
The next day, I took the DD and hurried to the corporation office and forgot to take a photo copy and also to write my details in the back of the DD. How stupid of me.
The assessor took the DD, wrote my name and phone number in the back and put it in his drawer. "The bill will be ready in a day or two. You will receive an SMS. You can come and collect the receipt from the office."
He did not hint on any bribe, but his demeanour was cold and impersonal.
I was still cursing myself for not having taken a photo copy and was a little worried. But decided to leave it at this and call the assessor only after a couple of days. Soon, I got busy with other work and on the second day, I got a call from the assessor.
"Your bill is ready. Collect it from the Velachery corporation office", he said. "Yes, it is near the Dhandeeswaram temple in Velachery.", he further directed.
I was familiar with the place but never knew that a corporation office existed there. I asked a local person on reaching the place, and he pointed to the building, which is not easy to miss, once you start looking for it.
Going inside the building, past the trees, I saw a typical government office, with a building in faded yellow, or was it blue? I cannot remember. There was a shed being repaired in the front.
The assessor was sitting behind a counter with a computer. "This must be his primary work location", I said to myself. He was on the phone with someone, but on seeing me, he printed a copy of the bill, stamped and signed it, while still multitasking on the phone.
"I missed adding the late fee. You need to pay that also", he said after finishing the phone call. It amounted to a few hundred rupees.
"Can I pay it by cash?", I asked.
"There is no work for cash after this. Everything is online. If you have a card, you can swipe in the machine here", the assessor replied, pointing to the desk by his side.
I took out my debit card and gave it to his assistant who was at the swiping machine.
Feeling happy at the turn of events, I thanked the assistant and the assessor for their work.
"YOU COME AND GO SO MANY TIMES FOR THIS WORK, but you never think of giving us something for our expenses. GIVE AT LEAST 1000 TO HIM", the assessor finally let his frustration out.
I was feeling ashamed on hearing it.
I asked the person to come outside the office. There I took two Rs. 500 notes and gave it to him. Emotions of shame, pity and thankfulness suppressed the analytical side of my brain.
• • •
Thinking through this episode now, I could have saved myself a lot of work and money by going directly to the assessor, dropping the letter along with a Rs. 500 note, like a professional.
But would that improve things? No.
I should still give the application in the Zonal office, where I get an acknowledgement with the date of submission. It is likely that the SLA of 30 days is being tracked, which is why the assessor finished the work without me pushing for it.
I should also insist on online transfer or card payment instead of the DD. Even if it meant bribing the assessor.
Even if my mom is true, and government officers do not commit fraud, at least for such small amounts, the DD business gives undue power to the officers in addition to being cumbersome. All three must be put to an end.