The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC)'s local body tax (LBT) officials have now started cracking the whip on defaulters from shops located in malls across the city. They have so far conducted raids on shops located in old market areas of Thane.
On Friday, LBT officials, led by deputy municipal commissioner Dilip Dhole, conducted a raid on showrooms belonging to multi-national brands like Adidas and Reebok stores at two of Thane's popular malls.
''We raided Reebok stores as they defaulted on payments to a tune of Rs 6 lakh. Since the enforcement of LBT, both the Reebok branches have not being paying their dues,'' said Dhole.
He added, ''Adidas showrooms were also under the scanner of the LBT department. As both the outlets are new it is difficult to calculate the default amount. But both have obtained LBT registration certificates.We will fine them and take action against them.''
Expanding its base from confined old market area to industrial zone, now Thane Municipal Corporation's (TMC) local body tax officials have targeted posh malls in the city to crack the whip on defaulters.
On Friday, LBT officers led by deputy municipal commissioner Dilip Dhole conducted raid on multinational brand showrooms like Adidas and Reebok at Korum and Vivian malls.
"We have raided on Reebok shops at both Korum mall and Vivian Mall on Friday evening for default payment of LBT to a tune of Rs 6 lakh. Since the enforcement of LBT in the city Reebok show rooms in both the malls have not paid LBT dues after being registered under this new levy," Dhole told TOI on the sidelines of Friday raid.
He further added that "Adidas showrooms in Korum and Viviana were also under the scanner of LBT department. Though both the outlets are new it's premature to calculate the default amount now. But both have obtained the LBT registration certificate. We will screw them with appropriate recovery including fines, interest and penalty."
Till date, TMC has recovered Rs 3 crores from regular raids. since early October and 62 shops and industries came under the fold for flouting LBT rules.
Now, the TMC is planning to move beyond old city to Kalwa, Mumbra and Diva from where collection amount was received a paltry. The TMC is waiting to add more staff into its existing fleet. "We are yet to calculate the pending levy from all raided stores to slap them demand notice for payment. The raid will be a regular feature now as we are falling short of our set target of Rs 600 crores till March 31, 2014. We have just achieved the half way mark with Rs 315 crore including LBT, stamp duty and escort."
