Mayor asks NDMC to issue notice to TPDDL on tax dues

The Mayor of North Delhi today directed officials of NDMC to issue notice to a discom here for its electricity tax, due to the municipal corporation since Januray.
Mayor Yogender Chandolia and chairman of North Delhi Municipal Corporation's Standing Committee Mohan Bhardwaj asked the officials to slap the notice for tax dues along with imposing of penalty on the discom, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL).
The electricity tax due to the NDMC from TPDDL is more than Rs 80 crore, the NDMC said in a statement.
The civic body said that under section 155 of the DMC Act, a penalty of 20 per cent can be imposed for default and the corporation can also slap a notice under section 455 of the DMC Act for demand of arrears of tax due.

Both Chandolia and Bhardwaj said the power distribution company needs to deposit the tax collected within 40 days of the collection, but the corporation claimed that it has not received electricity tax from them since January.
The two leaders in the BJP-led NDMC said the TPDDL is not even fulfilling the statutory liabilities by not depositing the tax collected by it for the corporation.

The Mayor further alleged the discom was not working as per rules and the understandings between both the parties and the rulings of DERC like installation of meters for billing of electricity consumed for street lights.

Moreover, it is clarified that the demand for power consumption against street lights is almost 25 per cent of the electricity tax collected by the discom, which needs to be deposited with the corporation as per statutory requirement within 40 days of the collection, it said.
According to statutory provisions, no tax can be adjusted against any other demand and the discom is liable to pay the tax due towards it.
The leaders warned that if such activities continue and the discom threatens or slaps notice to disconnect street lights, then a criminal case be lodged against the TPDDL for putting the public at inconvenience.