MUMBAI, March 26 -- The state legislature on Wednesday passed a bill amending the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, allowing the civic administration to collect property tax arrears that will impact 1.05 million properties in Mumbai. Arrears had piled up for 16 years, as property owners were paying only 50% of the tax due to pending litigation. The litigation arose when housing societies approached the Bombay High Court, challenging a 2012 decision of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to levy property tax as per the capital value of buildings rather than the rental value (RV) system. In 2012, while calculating the tax as per capital value, the BMC had also said the new system would be applied with retrospective effect, from 2010. In 2014, while the court upheld the BMC's decision to levy the tax as per capital value, it struck down the civic body's move to apply it retrospectively from 2010. The BMC appealed the order in the Supreme Court but the apex court upheld the Bombay High Court order, saying the municipal commissioner did not have the power to frame the rules with retrospective effect. The Maharashtra government's new bill now empowers the municipal commissioner to prescribe by rules, formula and any other matters to fix the capital value of any land or building assessable to property tax with retrospective or prospective effect. The arrears arise out of the Bombay High Court's 2014 order, which directed that property owners could pay only 50% of the property tax, until a final verdict was delivered in the matter. Following Wednesday's amendment to Section 154 of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, the BMC can now recover the remaining 50% of the tax from such property owners with retrospective effect from 2010. However, this will not apply to residential properties of 500sq ft or less - properties that were exempt from the property tax net since 2022. In the state legislative assembly, as the government pushed through the bill on Wednesday, legislators of the opposition MVA walked out in protest as they could not debate or discuss it. In the legislative council too, there was no discussion. When speaker Rahul Narwekar introduced the bill, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav asked why there was delay in introducing the bill. Pandemonium ensued and the assembly was adjourned. Later, the bill was passed sans debate. Narwekar said the opposition wanted time to study the bill but when it was introduced, they raised slogans. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said they were not opposed to any discussion, but the opposition needed to follow the procedure. Meanwhile, the decision to introduce property tax retrospectively from April 2010 has been criticised by former BMC standing committee member Asif Zakaria. "Any attempt to recover additional or balance dues along with penalties and interest would be grossly unfair and impose an unjust financial burden on lakhs of tax payers," he said. The BMC ramped up its property tax collection drive in the current financial year, achieving 87.86% of its target - or Rs.6,449 crore - until March 24, 2026, according to a statement released by the BMC on Wednesday. Additional municipal commissioner Ashwini Joshi has urged property owners to pay the tax before March 31, to avoid penalties. To facilitate this, BMC Civic Facility Centres (CFCs) will be open from March 26-31, excepting March 27, from 8am to midnight....