BMC cracks the whip, uses licence to revoke

August 3: For the BMC, the circular was an indirect way to get rid of stalls, hawkers and shops on their land. But for elected representat...

August 3: For the BMC, the circular was an indirect way to get rid of stalls, hawkers and shops on their land. But for elected representatives, it means more jobless people and loss of revenue to the BMC.

In a stringent step, the licences department of the BMC has cancelled the circular which allowed hawkers and owners of shops and stalls located on BMC land (licence issued under Section 313 of BMC Act) to get their licences, even if payment of licence fee was late by many years, by payment of the penalty amount. The new circular, issued in May, orders ward offices to directly cancel licences of those who fail to pay their licence fee even after three notices and a show-cause notice asking for payment of fees is issued. Once the licence is cancelled, the concerned person will have to apply afresh for a new one.

The order has caused considerable concern among traders who come under its ambit. “I was ill and away from the city at the time my licence fee was due. So I could not go to the ward office to pay it,” said K K Khan, a stall-owner in south Mumbai whose licence has been cancelled in the wake of this order. “Getting a new licence with a fresh application is tedious as it involves greasing many palms and the procedure is time-consuming,” he said.

However, deputy municipal commissioner S S Shinde who issued this circular feels it would check malpractices in the licence department. “Earlier many traders would not bother to pay their licence fee even after a number of reminders. There are people who come to our office to pay fees accumulated for the last 20 years and get their licence easily restored,” he said, adding the circular would instill some discipline among erring traders. “With the new circular in effect, we first issue three notices to the person who has failed to pay the licence fee on due date. After that inspections are carried out. If the trader is absconding his licence is cancelled immediately, otherwise a show-cause notice is issued and if there is still no repsonse, the licence is cancelled,” he said. “There have been a number of cases wherein stall-owners remain absconding for years together and come one fine day, pay the arrears and get their licences restored. All these practices will be stopped now,” he noted. Moreover, thenumber of stall-owners and hawkers doing business on BMC land will fall with these stringent measures, he added.

However, Samajwadi Party corporator Yaqub Memon opined the circular would bring down the income of the BMC. “The practice of charging a penalty amount for late payment of fees helped in filling the BMC’s coffers. Now, after the licence is cancelled, the source of income is also cancelled,” he noted.

Prior to this circular, the civic administration had fixed a proper quantum of penalties to be paid, in direct proportion to the extent of delay. Accordingly, if payment of licence fee yearly by stall-owners and quarterly for pitch licences was late by one year, Rs 500 was charged. If the fee was late for a period between one to five years, the quantum of penalty fixed was Rs 5,000, for 10 to 15 years’ delay it was 15,000, for 15-20 years it was Rs 20,000 and so on.

“The new circular will render a number of people jobless,” Memon said, adding it would also encourage corruption. The Samajwadi Party has decided to bring the matter in the general body meeting for discussion under Section 66 (B).