Posh schools in south Delhi to pay trade licence fee

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to hike trade licence fees in the city as part of its new policy that aims at regularising several new trades such as coaching centres, gaming shops, mobile recharge shops and cyber cafes, etc.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has decided to hike trade licence fees in the city as part of its new policy that aims at regularising several new trades such as coaching centres, gaming shops, mobile recharge shops and cyber cafes, etc.

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Public schools that charge high fees from students will be considered part of the 'trade' sector and will have to get a mandatory trade licence, SDMC standing committee chairman Rajesh Gehlot said on Tuesday. The municipal body has included hitherto uncovered trades such as ATMs, cable network, multi-brand hyper marts and even online portals that sell goods under the ambit of trade licence fees.

The trade policy that has been introduced in the standing committee will be brought before the House for approval.

Several trades had been running without licences as there was no policy governing them. The new policy will do away with the 'inspector raj' by providing a 'one trade, one rate' policy in south Delhi.

As per the existing policy, licence rates were based on the size of the shop which was measured by the inspectors, who in turn harassed the traders. Now each trade will pay the same rate irrespective of the size of the shop.

"If approved in its entirety, annual revenue of the south corporation will see a significant hike from R3 crore to R100 crore per year with licence fees ranging from R1,200 to R15,000," said Gehlot.

The south corporation plans to engage a private agency which will provide door-to-door registration of trade licences.

"The agency will meet the traders, collect a processing fee of R550 and give them a provisional certificate," said an SDMC official in-charge of issuing licences.

"On their part, traders have to furnish all the necessary documents within 60 days so that the licence application process can be completed," he added.

The process is expected to be completed within two months.

Once the licence is issued, the trader will be issued a unique number which will be stored in a database for future reference.