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.