The 35 traders including some top businessmen were put on notice for not registering with LBT. However, the most shocking fact of the development is that the Additional Deputy Commissioner Ravindra Kumbhare has strictly ordered the concerned authorities not to make the names of the “guilty” businessmen public. The diktat of Ravindra Kumbhare has put the action of notice to traders in the shadow of a doubt.
Gold Rate
Wednesday 12 March 2025
Nagpur News:
Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has put 35 traders on notice for not registering with Local Body Tax (LBT). The 35 traders include some top businessmen. However, the most shocking fact of the development is that the Additional Deputy Commissioner Ravindra Kumbhare has strictly ordered the concerned authorities not to make the names of the “guilty” businessmen public.
The diktat of Ravindra Kumbhare has put the action of notice to traders in the shadow of a doubt.. Have the traders put on notice or it is just a drama? If the action is really taken then why the hide and seek game (Police-Chor game)? This style of Kumbhare’s working has always embroiled him in one controversy or another. Recently, Kumbhare got the proposal of Deshmukh, who is an employee on the contract basis, sanctioned as if it was legal. However, the NMC’s legal experts think it as illegal action and would demand the State Government to form a committee to investigate the matter independently and punish the guilty.
The LBT was enforced in the NMC and across Maharashtra from April 1, 2013. The traders, business houses and industries had protested the enforcement of LBT and had also launched intense agitations like “Total Bandh” for 45 days. The agitation called down after the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan accepted many demands of the traders and made some amendments in the LBT Act. The ambit of LBT too was increased. The LBT registration was made mandatory for those traders who imported goods worth Rs 1 crore annually and for those traders whose transactions within city were up to Rs 5 lakh. The last date for registration with LBT was June 20. Till now, 28000 traders have registered themselves with LBT but hundreds of others have dodged the registration. Many traders have been finding loopholes in the LBT Act. But it will be difficult for them to escape the sharp eyes of the NMC.
The NMC started scanning the information about which traders imported the goods the last year, how much Octroi duty they paid etc. Similarly, the NMC also scanning the information about the traders who imported the goods this year and are in the ambit of LBT. The NMC has started issuing notices to those traders who rae covered by the LBT. Till now, the NMC has received LBT of Rs 93 crore including the net Rs 68.70 crore on LBT count, Rs 4.50 crore against Traffic Pass, and Rs 20 crore against Stamp Duty.
