Traders’ stir against civic taxes

MUMBAI, December 24: Enraged at the steep hike of around 233 per cent in registration fees and arbitrary levy of fines by the civic officia...

MUMBAI, December 24: Enraged at the steep hike of around 233 per cent in registration fees and arbitrary levy of fines by the civic officials, ostensibly to fund the cleanliness drive, city traders have planned a series of protest demonstrations.

The Federation of Retail Traders’ Association, representing around 60,000 traders, will hold a dharna on Friday demanding that the government stay the hike in various taxes. This will be followed by a one-day token strike on January 5. Talks will also be held with the government, and if these fail, the delegation may call a trade bandh on January 12.

The BMC recently hiked the annual Gumasta registration certificate fees by around 233 per cent to 1,100 per cent for various categories. If a shop owner with one to four workers earlier paid Rs 30 as registration fees, he will now have to pay Rs 150 – a hike of 400 per cent. Similarly, if a small scale industrialist employing over 400 employees was paying Rs 1,000, he will now have to shell out Rs 4,000. The new rules demand that the traders pay the registration fees for the next three years in advance by December 15. They face a 50 per cent penalty if they don’t.

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When pointed out that in any case, it was a small amount, convener of the association’s action committee Kishore Shah said it was not a question of the amount, adding that, a similar amount is to be paid as trade refuse tax, which has also been started now. When this tax was first introduced in 1985, the Bombay High Court had stayed its implementation on the ground that the BMC could not levy this extra tax when the civic body collects municipal taxes, including sewage and refuse tax. The then Minister of Labour Javed Khan had also appointed a sub-committee to study the matter and arrive at a consensus. “However, while the committee report is awaited, the state government has sanctioned this levy,” said Shah. To top this, the civic officials are allegedly collecting huge fines if any refuse matter is found outside the shops, irrespective of whether the traders are responsible for it.

“In one case, in Vile Parle (E), the shop keeper was asked to pay Rs 1,000. When he argued, the officers raised the amount to Rs 1,500. Further arguments saw the fine hiked to Rs 2,000 and then Rs 3,000. In the end, the matter was settled for Rs 900. Of this, the officer pocketed Rs 500 and gave a receipt for Rs 400 only,” said Shah . “This has reached intolerable limits. Apparently, in an oral order the civic commissioner has given his officers penalty quotas of Rs 6 lakh to 10 lakh this month,” said Shah.

While the federation could not reach the commissioner for an appointment, Shah said, “The civic officers claim that the state government had issued the orders for the hike.” Civic officials were unavailable for comment.