Supreme Court allows Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation to recover Property Tax from Small Scale Industrial Units

Supreme Court allows Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation to recover Property Tax from Small Scale Industrial Units

The Supreme Court while adjudicating in the case of Small-Scale Entrepreneurs Association & Ors. vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. has ruled in favor of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) and against a section of entrepreneurs of small-scale industrial units of Trans-Thane Creek (TTC) and further directed the civic body to collect property tax from all industrial units.

The division bench comprising of Justices M. R. Shah and C. T. Ravikumar of observed that if any person has not paid the property tax despite the stay refused by Supreme Court and no interim relief in their favor, it will be open for NMMC to take recourse to law and even seal the premises and recover the amount of property tax.

In the present case the petitioner’s Small-Scale Entrepreneurs' Association (SSEA) had challenged the authority of the NMMC to collect property tax from the industrial units in the area. In 2010, the High Court had already dismissed the petition. However, the SSEA had approached the Apex Court.

Since 2001, the issue was pending in court, and the civic body could not collect property taxes from small-scale industrial units.

The SSEA had approached the Court, asserting that NMMC had no jurisdiction over them. The association asked for an exemption from paying property tax. Since 1996, NMMC has been authorized to collect property taxes. Before that, it was being collected by Mumbai Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).

The bench on noting the records submitted, observed that, “if any person(s) has/have not paid the property tax despite the stay refused by this Court and no interim relief in their favor, it will be open for the Corporation to take recourse to law and even seal the premises and recover the amount of property tax. It is also submitted on behalf of the Corporation that as the members of the petitioner-Association have not paid the property tax since many years and despite they having lost before the High Court and this Court refused the stay and therefore the petitioners may not be heard shall be considered on the next date of hearing.”

The Court remarked it will not hold the hearing unless the small-scale entrepreneurs clear all dues before the next hearing and adjourned the matter on 2 August, 2023.