Journalism of Courage
Octroi evasion : Say they too dont want long legal battle,open to talks with PMC octroi dept
Having detected octroi evasion by many city jewellers,the civic octroi department had set a 15-day deadline for them to pay up Rs 330 crore,the evaded octroi of around Rs 33 crore plus a 10-fold penalty. The deadline is over but the department is unable to take any action,as the jewellers have got a stay on the notice,till August 23.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had served the notices on the octroi defaulters two months ago.
On June 22,the civic octroi department had first declared action against the jewellers for evasion. Notices were given to 129 jewellers,including several prominent ones. The civic body had filed a caveat in court but the Pune Jewellers Association (PJA) approached the small causes court of the district court and got a stay. The jewellers contend the civic body had erred in calculating the octroi that remains to be paid.
The jewellers filed cases in the local court and since the court has given a stay,we cannot take any action and collect dues till August 23. Only after the court gives its decision can we decide the future course of action, said Heman Nikam,the civic octroi chief.
The majority of the corporators said negotiations with jewellers would have helped more than taking the battle to court. Standing Committee chairman Arvind Shinde said,Actually,there has always been a dispute between the jewellers and the civic administration over octroi on gold and silver. But filing cases against each other in court will only delay the matter and PMC will have to suffer more. There is a need to hold a joint meeting for a solution.
Giving a legal fight is not actually a solution in this particular case. The legal procedures take long and till then jewellers will go scot-free. There is a need to convene a meeting and become aggressive, Vikas Mathkari,BJP corporator said.
A PJA member said jewellers were open to discussion as they too did not want legal battles. We have no issues about holding talks with the civic body,but they took a wrong move first and we were left with no option but approach court. The octroi department has done wrong calculations and slapped notices. The actual octroi which remains unpaid should not have been beyond Rs 8 crore, he said.
As per the excise department,the turnover of gold and silver is Rs 1,500 crore,but octroi collected was Rs 9 crore. The octroi department levies 3 per cent octroi on gold and silver items.
