7 days ago
Trade bodies accuse JMC-Greater of issuing unlawful tax demands
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Jaipur: Trade associations have accused Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) Greater of issuing unlawful tax demands to warehouse proprietors. Members of the associations said that despite a state govt notification from Feb 2025 classifying all warehouses under the industrial category, the civic authorities continue to levy commercial tax rates on warehouse facilities.
Associations highlighted that industrial property rates in Jaipur, as per district level committee guidelines, are 10-12% lower than commercial property rates. Yet, warehouse owners are being charged at higher commercial rates, contrary to the govt directive.
Avishek Goyal, secretary of the Warehouse Association of Rajasthan, said that around 12-15 warehouses are located under JMC-Greater's jurisdiction.
Now, these warehouses need to pay a premium as the JMC has levied taxes for this financial year under the industrial category, instead of commercial.
Second, as per norms, around 500 warehouses located in the RIICO areas need not pay any taxes. But the civic body has arbitrarily charged taxes from all the warehouses under the commercial property category. "With the municipal corporation's jurisdiction getting extended before the forthcoming civic polls, more and more warehouses of Jaipur would come under its jurisdiction.
We need to address this issue as soon as possible.
With JMC not addressing this issue, we are planning meetings with the high officials of the finance and the local self government (LSG) departments soon," said Goyal, who is also the co-convenor of the Infra Forum of the CII.
While JMC officials claimed the decision was taken on instructions from the LSG department, secretary of LSG department Rajesh Yadav was not available for comments.
The state govt issued a notification on February 19, 2025, granting industry status to the logistic infrastructure, including all warehouses across the state.
"We have estimated that while a small warehouse owner needs to pay at least Rs 50K under the commercial category property, major warehouse companies need to shell out around Rs 1.5 lakhs to Rs 3 lakhs," said Rishav Goyal, secretary of Warehouse and Industrial Developers Association of Rajasthan.
