MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 27: With the businesses of over 60 percent clearing agents hit, many are making a beeline to civic headquarter after acting assessor and collector Rajendra Vale stopped clearance of N form defaulters from Wednesday. The N form is used by traders who use the city as a transit point. No octroi is charged on the N form though the value of the goods is registered and these have to be cleared in a week.Vale has taken this harsh stand to clear a backlog of 7000 cases which have been pending from April l999 to January 2000. This could net some Rs 7-8 crores of octroi revenue. Vale said there are cases dating back to 1993 which are still pending. Over 65,000 demand letters have been issued so far. Since the drive commenced some 650 demand letters have been closed, netting over 10 lakhs alone.While filling the N form, clearing agents who act on behalf of the traders, have to hand in documents confirming the removal of these goods from the city within seven days. Some evade octroi by saying the that the goods are meant to be taken out of the city when they are actually meant for sale here.Officials said that not all cases are necessarily of octroi evasion. For some or the other reason they may have had to keep the goods behind in the city. Yet they have to pay octroi through the clearing agents, which has not been done.``The onus is on the clearing agent even if the trader has sold off the goods in the city or left the city,''said an octroi official. Besides with the financial year closing in March the administration is determined to rake in much revenue out of this drive, he added.Even those clearing agents are being pulled up who have defaulted on the R form facility, ie those who take their gooods out temporarily and bring them back into the city. Like the N form, the R form facility also has zero octroi. Agitated agents tried to gherao Vale and alleged that they were not intimated before their clearance were stopped affecting their business. However additional municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar said there was no need to do that as they are notified to produce documents when registering under the N form.
