JULIO DSILVA
julio@herald-goa.com
The Margao Municipal Council appears to be turning a Nelson’s eye to the misdoings in the New Market due to which it is losing a sizeable amount of revenue as people continue to pay the rent at old rates even though the owner or business has changed hands.
The MMC has altogether 561 shops that it has given out on rent to various people out of which 292 are in the New Market. These shops are the ones with the shutters while those vending at places without shutters are only paying sopo tax.
Quite a number of these 292 shops pay rent to the MMC at the rate of Rs 10 per annum while there are some who pay Rs 13,000 to Rs 15,000 and the four petrol pumps are paying a rent of Rs 30,000. However, the MMC was not in a position to give the exact number of shops and how much rent they were paying though it is whispered that around 40 shop owners are still paying only Rs 10 as rent.
Of the 292 shops many have been sold by executing an agreement or a document. Interestingly most of these agreements are executed either before a lawyer or a Notary which has no legal standing as the MMC which is the owner of the premises, is not made a party.
The person to whom the shop was allotted initially by the MMC is either dead or unable to run the business and hence has taken the convenient step of either leasing out the shop or selling it outright.
Some have leased the premises for as much as Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 per month, while some have sold the premises for lakhs of rupees. In some cases, the original shop has been split in two and either leased out to two different parties or sold to two different parties.
Proof that the shops have been given to others can be seen in the fact that only four families are managing grocery shops in the New Market that were originally given to their ancestors and other grocery shops are either being run by new persons who have the business carried out there.
The taxation department claimed to have no knowledge about this development and Accounts Officer Abhay Rane demanded to know how the shops could be sold without the MMC’s knowledge as it is the owner.
The inspectors apparently do not check whether the business carried out in the shop has changed or even if the person manning the shop has changed and that is the reason why the MMC does not have any record whether the person to whom the shop was allotted is still continuing to do so.
