Octroi evasion: PMC recovers a record Rs 21.9 lakh as penalty

The PMC has also filed court cases in 117 incidents so far,he said adding the civic body files police complaint only if the jewellers fail to pay the penalty.

As per the rules,the PMC charges 2.5 per cent for gold,3 per cent for diamond and half per cent for silver as octroi on the prices of goods.

Muthe said the civic administration estimates that there is annual turn over of Rs 1,000 crore in the jewellery business in the city and the civic body should at least earn revenue of Rs 25 crore per year from it as octroi.

The civic body collection has been Rs 2.06 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 1.47 crore in 2007-08,he said.

Meanwhile,the civic Octroi department managed to seize diamond jewellery worth Rs 6.5 lakh that was being brought in the city by a renowned jeweler.

On a tip off,the octroi department squad seized the jewellery on Laxmi Road. Though,the jeweller claimed that the transportation was done locally,Muthe said the seized items were brought from Mumbai and had entered the city without paying octroi.

A notice was served to the jeweller to pay the penalty price,but there has been no response so far,he added.