MUMBAI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ashish Shelar has demanded that the government defer the non-agricultural tax recovery from housing societies in Mumbai.
Shelar met state revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat to seek the deferment pointing out that around 20,000 buildings are affected by the NA tax notice. He led a delegation of residents from Bandra and Santacruz who had received the notices.
“The NA tax demand is raised annually though it was paid at the time of building construction. Only buildings in the suburbs are levied this tax and it is not applicable to the housing societies in the island city, he said.
Advocate Godfrey Pimenta, convenor, Watchdog Foundation said the amount demanded in several cases are absurdly high and has led to panic among residents.
“A few years ago when the demand was raised to abolish the tax for housing societies in Mumbai, political leaders had promised to amend the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code but nothing has been done till date,” he said.
Pimenta said the NA tax is from the British era and has no relevance in current times for the urban and suburban areas of Maharashtra and must be scrapped as these lands have been permanently converted to residential use.
Shelar said the Devendra Fadnavis government had stayed the notices issued for payments due since 2008 but now the Maha Vikas Aghadi government has once again issued the notices. He added that Thorat had assured he would discuss the issue with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and take a decision.
