The Indian Express                        09.04.2013

NDMC to charge embassies for upkeep of surroundings

After several unsuccessful moves, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has finally decided to levy a service charge on foreign embassies located within its limits.

According to senior NDMC officials, the council has already received in-principle approval on the matter from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which is mediating between local agencies and the embassies. Officials hope that the NDMC would be able to collect the service charge from the coming financial year, once written approval from the MEA is granted.

"There is a chief protocol officer who deals with the embassies on behalf of the local bodies. Though the MEA has in-principle approved levying service charge on these embassies, the ministry is yet to give its approval in writing. We are very hopeful that we will be able to levy this service charge from the next financial year," an NDMC official said.

The decision would mean that foreign embassies, which do not spend on the maintenance and upkeep of surrounding areas, will have to pay the NDMC for its services.

According to the Geneva Convention, no foreign embassy can be charged a property tax. But, officials said, the service charge will be levied on a reciprocal basis, which means that India will charge only those embassies that levy a service charge on Indian embassies in their countries.

However, NDMC has been struggling for almost nine to 10 years to obtain written approval from the MEA. "We have communicated repeatedly with the ministry, but have not received any written approval to levy service charge. We hope to earn almost Rs 10-15 crore as service charge from the embassies," a senior official said.

NDMC officials said the service charge levied will be 75 per cent of the current property tax.

Presently, foreign embassies in the capital pay for electricity, water and sewage, but are not charged for services like garbage collection, street lights and road maintenance.