The dispute between Gurgaon's industrialists and the civic agency over the issue of property tax has been brought to the fore once again. The local associations have written to the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) seeking, among other exemptions, an extension on the payment deadline, which was reached on June 30.

Because the matter of whether the property tax demand is legitimate or not is already being argued at the Punjab and Haryana high court, industrialists say that this latest move is a bid to get some short-term relief from the new tax regime, in a time when 'most industrial units are on the verge of shutting down.'

"The industrial area comprises large number of SMEs, which are under severe financial crunch due to economic recession and negative industrial growth...Now the burden of property tax and arrears for the last five years will be a huge blow on such units," the letter, addressed to the MCG commissioner, says.

The property tax which is being demanded by the municipal corporation is over and above the tax industrialists have already been paying annually to the HSIIDC, and here lies the bone of contention. "The 2011 industrial policy of Haryana clearly says that industrial estates will be under the HSIIDC. Now the MCG is also demadning a property tax. We cannot have two civic agencies for the area," said H R Vaish, president of Chamber of Industries of Udyog Vihar.

On an average, the property tax in Udyog Vihar comes out to be around Rs 200 per square metre, which translates to over a lakh annually.

"This is a matter we have challenged in a writ petition in the high court. We had filed objections when the MCG had first sent the notices demanding property tax three years ago, and despite the reminders, we got no official response," Vaish added.