BMC inquires into octroi for Reliance aircraft

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is inquiring into “possible octroi evasions” in the case of two aircrafts purchased by Reliance Commercial Developers Pvt Ltd (RCDPL).

The two aircraft, a Falcon 900 Ex and an Airbus 319, valued at about Rs400 crore were earlier sealed by the Air Intelligence Unit of the customs department for non-payment of duty. They were later released after the company deposited bonds for the planes.

Now the BMC’s vigilance department is investigating whether the company had paid octroi on these two aircrafts. Joint municipal commissioner V.Radha said, “We are investigating whether there has been an evasion of Octroi duty. The vigilance department has been ordered to study all the records.” She added, “We will take action after assessing the whole case.”

If found to have not paid the octroi, the company may have to pay a four per cent of the aircrafts’ value as Octroi plus 10 times of the octroi amount as penalty. A Reliance spokesperson when contacted said she was not aware of the BMC’s investigations and had no comment to offer.

These two aircraft were imported via New Delhi to be rented out for chartered flights. However, the customs department had claimed that the planes were only used for private purposes by the Ambani family and Reliance officials.

Another senior official from the BMC said that even if RCDPL was registered outside Mumbai city, the aircrafts were being used in Mumbai and could attract Octroi.
m_pandurang@dnaindia.net