RTO seeks Rs 5.60 cr tax from NMC, civic body asks for Rs 7.10 cr property tax from it
   Date :12-Aug-2019

 
Staff Reporter:
 
State Transport Department and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) are engaged in claiming ‘recovery’ of tax dues from each other. While the former has sought dues of Rs 5.60 crore from NMC, the latter has responded with demand for dues of Rs 7.10 crore. The matter is likely to come up for discussion before the Standing Committee of NMC in its meeting scheduled on August 14. State Transport Department has asked NMC to pay Rs 5,60,32,566/- as against tax dues. The amount includes Rs 4,16,43,359/- as passenger tax and Rs 1,53,89,207/- as child nutrition cess.
 
The dues are for the period from December 5, 2016 to March 31, 2019. State Transport Department has sent letters to NMC in this regard and cited provisions under Mumbai Motor Vehicle (Taxation of Passengers) Act, 1958. On receipt of communication, NMC Transport Department discussed the matter. In an official note, the civic body noted with concern that the city bus service was running into losses and there was no revenue to pay the passenger tax and child nutrition cess to State Transport Department. NMC city bus service is incurring losses upwards of Rs 12 crore per annum.
 
There is a huge gap between the revenue earned through city bus service and expenditure incurred on account of amount paid to operators and other heads. Hence, NMC is unable to pay the taxes to State Transport Department. Meanwhile, officials in NMC sat together and decided to check the amount of property tax to be recovered from Regional Transport Office (City), Nagpur.
 
It came to fore that an amount of Rs 7,10,20,533/- was to be recovered from RTO (City) for the period from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019. After finding this, now, NMC has asked RTO (City) to adjust Rs 5,60,32,566/- with the property tax dues of Rs 7,10,20,533/-. Of course, it depends on NMC and RTO (City) to settle the matter amicably. Against this backdrop, all eyes will be on Standing Committee meeting of NMC scheduled on August 14.