SDMC House nod for revision of health trade licence fee for banquet halls

Owners of banquet halls in South Delhi having a capacity of more than 250 persons, may soon have to shell out Rs 25,000 for getting a health licence as the BJP-led SDMC Thursday gave its nod to a proposal on revision of trade licences for eating establishments, officials said.

Health trade licence fee was last revised in 2015, Leader of House Kamaljeet Sehrawat said.

The proposal for the revision of fee was placed before the Standing Committee of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and a sub-committee was constituted in February, comprising Sehrawat, Poonam Bhati and Bhupender Gupta.

"The committee deliberated upon the issue and submitted a report with amendments as per which the health trade licence fee for a banquet hall was first revised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 10,000. But it was later revised again to Rs 15,000," Sehrawat told reporters.

However, the panel had proposed the fee for all categories of banquet hall.

Sehrawat, in her address as the Leader of House of the SMDC, during its proceedings proposed to make two separate categories for banquet halls.

"Earlier, it was just one fee across all banquet halls but now we have proposed two categories. So, halls having a capacity of 250 or less would have to pay Rs 15,000 as a fee. And licence fee for banquet halls having a capacity of over 250 would be Rs 25,000," she said.

The House gave its approval to the revision of fees during its meeting held at the Civic Center here.

Sehrawat said the proposal will now be sent to the administrative wing and is expected to be cleared in the next two months, before being implemented.

South Delhi has a number of banquet halls located across the area.