Aiming at mopping the additional revenue of about Rs 47 crore, the Punjab Cabinet on Monday approved the move to levy entertainment tax on the DTH (direct to home) at Rs 5 and local cable connections at Rs 2 on monthly basis.
The urban and local bodies will be eligible to impose and collect a nominal entertainment tax with the enactment of ‘The Punjab Entertainments and Amusements Taxes (levy and Collection by local Bodies) Act 2017’, which will replace the earlier entertainment tax system under the new GST regime. The Government proposes to bring the new legislation in the next session of the Vidhan Sabha.
The proposed Act is aimed at ensuring cable operators accountability. “The nominal tax would ensure accountability on the part of cable operators,” the State local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu told the Cabinet.
With the new tax structure in place, the Government would be able to ask them to disclose details of their connections, which they have so far been prone to hiding in order to evade tax.
The move follows a proposal mooted by the local Government Department, allowing all the Urban local Bodies and Gram Panchayats to levy such tax.
However, no entertainment tax has been proposed for cinemas, multiplexes, amusement parks and similar other places providing facilities for entertainment and amusements.
With nearly 16 lakh DTH and 44 lakh cable connections in the state, the local bodies are expected to earn annual income of Rs 45 to 47 crore following the imposition of tax, which is likely to mop up Rs 9.60 crore and Rs 36.96 crore respectively from the two segments.
Notably, after introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by the Central Government from July 1, 2017, entertainment tax, being levied and collected by the state government through the Department of Excise and Taxations, stood withdrawn.
The power of levying entertainment tax has now been conferred on the Panchayats and Municipalities through amendment in entry 62 of the State list to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Ex-Post approval to building rules amendments for OTS
To provide one-time settlement of non-compoundable violations, the Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval to amendments in building rules.it has been decided to bring ‘The Punjab One Time Voluntary Disclosure and Settlement of Violations of the Buildings Ordinance, 2017’ for all unauthorized constructions which have come up till September 30, 2017.
The one time settlement scheme will be applicable to non-compoundable violations in the buildings constructed in partly contravention of the Building Byelaws in the municipal areas.
The move was necessitated by the fact that there are a large number of unauthorized buildings where the building plans have not been approved. Most of the violations are non-compoundable, preventing regularisation of buildings under existing provisions.
It was, however, not feasible or desirable to demolish such buildings, most of which had come over the past many years. The government, thus, took a conscientious decision to regularise these buildings, provided the owners comply with the requisite fire and safety standards.
Right of way for laying underground irrigation pipelines
Cabinet has approved granting ‘Right of Way’ to government departments concerned or farmers to enable them to lay underground irrigation pipelines through other land holders' areas.
The amendment to the existing law will allow the laying of underground irrigation pipelines at a depth of three-feet beneath the surface of land as per demarcated line.
The Cabinet ‘approved the incorporation of a new Section 14-A in Chapter III as an amendment in Punjab land Improvement Schemes Act 1963 (Act no 23 of 1963)”.
The amendment would give the 'Right of Way' to the Soil and Water Conservation Department and the farmers against payment, as per prevailing market rates, of compensation on account of crop damage or damage to any structure.
The amendment was necessitated by the fact that land holders or entities or agencies holding land often did not allow the underground pipeline to pass through their land, thus depriving the farmer, with land located on the other side, of much-needed irrigation facilities, it was pointed out in the proposal sent to the cabinet in which approval was sought.
“Farmers with a single source of irrigation and fragmented agricultural land holdings were the worst affected due to the existing lacunae in the law. Absence of legal rights on this count was also holding up several government-funded projects,” said the official spokesperson.
To ensure implementation of the scheme, a district level committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner and comprising representatives from Revenue, Agriculture, Forest, Public Works and Soil Conservation Departments would be formed.
The proposed committee would be entrusted with the task of determining the amount of compensation to be paid to the land holder, the spokesperson said.
Reserve sale prices reduced in it properly auction
To rationalize the reserve sale price vis-à-vis market price besides facilitating the Improvement Trust auction and to attract bidders, the Punjab Cabinet has also given ex-post facto approval to the amendments in ‘The Punjab Town Improvement (Utilisation of land and Allotment of Plots) Rules, 1983’.
With this, there has been a reduction in ‘reserve sale price’ from 10 to seven percent of the properties of Improvement Trusts in the state to be sold by way of an 'open auction'.
There are, at present, 28 Improvement Trusts are carrying out the work of urban planning and improvement in Punjab. The properties of these Trusts are sold through open auction. Over time, the real estate market price has come down throughout the state, which has increased the gap between reserve sale price and market price.