State seeks to recover 1-cr dues for Sunburn festival

With the next episode of popular music festival, Sunburn, scheduled in Mumbai for December 20, the organisers have been told by the state government to cough up pending dues totalling just under ₹1 crore

MUMBAI: With the next episode of popular music festival, Sunburn, scheduled in Mumbai for December 20, the organisers have been told by the state government to cough up pending dues totalling just under ₹1 crore. That’s ₹42.92 lakh in stamp duty and over ₹50 lakh in penalties for non-payment of stamp duty. The dues relate to the leave and licence agreement for the venue of the 2016 edition of the festival held in Pune.

State seeks to recover 1-cr dues for Sunburn festival

Percept Live Private Limited, which had organised the festival in 2016, had leased a 5.4-hectare land parcel at Kesnand village in Haveli tehsil in Pune, after signing a five-year lease deed, according to a report by the stamp duty officer of Pune. Atul Choradia and others are the licensors in the case.

The office of the inspector-general of registration (IGR) has initiated the process to attach the property of the organisers. “This step is taken when the IGR decides that an exemption cannot be given. The penalty levied on the original stamp duty is 2% per month and it increases progressively. There is no provision to waive the outstanding stamp duty,” said an IGR official.

“The stamp officer of Pune was directed to levy the duty on the facilities set up for the Sunburn festival in 2016, which included stalls that were set up and the registration of documents. The organisers had requested a month’s time to pay the stamp duty, but later moved the Bombay High Court in February 2017 through two petitions. These were disposed of in February 2018 and March 2019. Since the duty and the penalty on it has not been paid by the organizers, the IGR’s office has initiated the process to recover the outstandings by attaching the property,” the official added.

According to a reply by the then revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, in the legislative assembly in 2017, the festival’s then organisers were also facing cases registered by the state forest department for feeling more than 25 trees for the festival. The reply also says the local revenue authorities had levied a penalty of ₹60.52 lakh for illegal excavation of minor minerals.

Santosh Hingane, joint district registrar, Pune, said, “We have initiated action against the lessee of the land and organisers of the event. When an action under section 46 of the Maharashtra Stamp Duty Act is initiated, we attach movable and immovable properties, and also bank accounts.”

When HT tried to reach out via phone calls and text messages, a spokesperson for the festival did not respond, while the agency facilitating the public relations for the festival sought seven days to make a statement.

In response to a questionnaire mailed by HT, the agency facilitating public relations for the festival sought seven days to make a statement.