Uttarakhand gives no relief to Hero group on stamp duty evasion

Company at centre of controversy in hill state over registration of lease deed of its manufacturing plant at 2006 circle rates

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With Hero Motocorp approaching the Board of Revenue in Uttarakhand to seek relief against a penalty of Rs 111 crore on alleged stamp duty evasion in the lease deed of its Haridwar manufacturing plant, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has ruled out any relaxation in the fine by strongly defending the decision of the Haridwar district authorities.

“The decision of Haridwar District Magistrate D Santhil Pandian to impose penalty on Hero group stands,” the Chief Minister told Business Standard when asked to comment on the status of the penalty.

On the other hand, top company’s officials met state Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar, who is also chairman of the Board of Revenue, separately on the issue.

“Some Hero company officials met me yesterday on the stamp duty issue. But I made it clear that the issue will be settled only at the Revenue Board level,” Kumar said.

The company is at the centre of a raging controversy in the hill state over the registration of the lease deed of its manufacturing plant at the 2006 circle rates which had allegedly caused a stamp duty loss of Rs 254 crore to the state exchequer.

The company had registered the land deed of its 214 acre haridwar industrial plot in February this year at the old circle rates of 2006 under an alleged relaxation given by the department of industry.

But the alleged relaxation given to the company caused a revenue loss of Rs 254 crore to the state exchequer, claimed leader of the opposition Ajay Bhatt, who asked the government to go for fresh registration of the lease deed at the circle rates of 2014.

“The circle rates at Haridwar industrial estate in 2006 were Rs 1,000 per sq meter. But now the circle rates have shot up in Haridwar industrial estate to Rs 3,800 per sq meter which creates a big difference in terms of stamp duty loss,” said Bhatt.

But after the government came under fire, the Chief Minister asked Haridwar District Magistrate Pandian to hold an inquiry into the Hero Motocorp case.

After holding the inquiry, Haridwar DM Pandian imposed a penalty on Hero Motocorp, the Chief Minister said. The company will have to pay a fine of Rs 111 crore , Rawat said. But this penalty is still not acceptable to the opposition.

“The penalty of Rs 111 crore is still very less than the total loss of Rs 254 crore. We are demanding a CBI probe into the whole affair,” reiterated Bhatt. When contacted, a spokesman of the Hero Motocorp did not answer the phone call.