Commercial establishments running from within the premises of the Delhi Metro stations will be allowed to continue with their business but will have to pay the property tax and also secure trade licence from the MCD. Earlier, the commercial establishments have been claiming that they were not required to get any approval from the urban local body (ULB) or pay them taxes.
The leader of the house in the MCD, Mr Subhash Arya, on Friday said that the MCD will charge property tax from commercial establishments “within the footprints of the Delhi Metro stations”. They will also have to secure trade licences. Mr Arya said that the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Delhi lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna. The LG had directed the MCD to de-seal the commercial establishments at Inderlok Metro station after the corporation had sealed it last week for allegedly not obtaining the requisite permissions. However, Mr Arya said that not only will the establishments be brought under property tax but also the constructions that are “outside the footprints” of the Metro stations will have to get the clearances as per the building norms of the corporation.
Earlier, the MCD had sealed the mall, belonging to Parsavanath Developers, which had led to a controversy between the corporation and the Delhi Metro. The DMRC had written to the MCD asking for immediately de-sealing the commercial establishments claiming that the government had allowed it to develop commercial property at its stations to shore up its revenues.
The MCD had, however, claimed that for the purpose of running the commercial establishments, the developer required to get its building plans cleared and also pay the MCD tax like other commercial establishments.