The Times of India            22.05.2013

Civic body to transfer staff from octroi posts for LBT

NASHIK: With the local body tax (LBT) set to be introduced in lieu of octroi in the district from Wednesday, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) is busy sorting its staff at the octroi posts to decide on the number of employees to be deployed for the new tax system. The rest will be transferred to other departments.

The 314 employees of the civic body, who, until now, were working at the octroi posts, will be divided as per the requirement of staff to collect the LBT. The municipal corporation will also be utilising all the infrastructure and machinery used for octroi collection.

"For octroi collection, we had one clerk and two peons per shift in each escort team with three shifts daily. We have an escort team in place for LBT collection as well but we will require lesser staff as compared to the staff needed for octroi collection. The 314 employees will be shortlisted and assigned the responsibility of LBT collection while the remaining will be shifted to other departments which are short-staffed - house tax, water cess, miscellaneous tax, anti-encroachment and other such departments," deputy municipal commissioner (octroi) Haribhau Phadol said.

The LBT office will be at the headquarters of the NMC, Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan. Two wings close to Phadol's office have been readied for the purpose.

The octroi posts (around 12) will stop functioning but the structures would remain. "An employee and a clerk will be posted for the escort. We will also be utilising the infrastructure used for octroi collection, including furniture. We will also be needing computers for online entries," Phadol said.

He further said that 16,400 traders and businessmen, who have registered themselves for sales tax, have been declared online for LBT collection. "These traders and businessmen have been issued LBT numbers. They now have to apply for a certificate which can be downloaded from the civic body's website. Since Monday, of the 13,500 people who have taken forms to register for LBT, 65 have submitted them. Once they have registered themselves, they will also have to apply for certificates," he added.

Traders start submitting applications for LBT registration

Tushar Pawar

Nashik: Local traders have started submitting applications to register themselves for the Local Body Tax (LBT), which is being implemented in place of octroi in the limits of the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) from Wednesday.

With the deadline of eight weeks given by the Bombay high court to the civic body for the preparation of the LBT ending on May 20, the civic administration has geared up to introduce the LBT from Wednesday and has started the distribution and submission of application forms for registrations for the LBT.

The traders' associations in the city, however, are still opposing LBT. They have halted their agitations for the time being and will decide on further course of action after May 24, following the outcome of the meeting to be held on the same day between the representatives of the traders' associations and union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and state chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

Around 16,000 businesses and industries, which are already registered under the Value Added Tax (VAT) with the sales tax department of the state government, have been registered for the LBT and their list has been downloaded on the website of the municipal corporation. The civic administration has appealed to these traders and industrialists to submit their applications along with relevant documents and get their LBT registration certificates.

Speaking to TOI, president of Nashik Dhanya Kirana Ghauk Sanghatna, Prafulla Sancheti said, "We are still against the introduction of LBT. We have temporarily halted our agitations until May 24. A joint meeting of representatives from the traders' associations in the state is to be held with the union minister Sharad Pawar and chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on May 24. We have appealed to the traders not to get registered for LBT until Friday."

President of Nashik Industries and Manufacturers' Association (NIMA) Dhananjay Bele said, "There had been a long pending demand by the industries for the abolishment of octroi. A new alternate to octroi has been introduced in the form of the LBT and we welcome the new tax system. The state government understood the difficulties of the industries and found a solution a for simplified tax system. This is a user-friendly tax system."

On March 26, the Bombay high court had lifted the stay on LBT and had given a deadline of eight weeks to NMC to prepare for the introduction of the new tax system.

Around 100 application forms for registration of the LBT were submitted by traders and industrialists on Wednesday.