No relief to Hero in duty evasion case
Hero MotoCorp approached the board of revenue in Uttarakhand to seek relief against a penalty of Rs 111 crore on alleged stamp duty evasion. This was pertaining to the lease deed of its Haridwar manufacturing plant. However the unfortunate news for Hero is that the Chief Minister Harish Rawat has ruled out any relaxation in the fine. He defended the decision of the Haridwar district authorities.
The company’s senior officials had met Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar who is also the chairman of the board of revenue. Kumar stated that some Hero company officials met him on the stamp duty issue. However he stated that he made it clear that the issue will be settled only at the revenue board level.
The company is at the centre of a controversy over the registration of lease deed of its manufacturing plant at 2006 circle rates. This has caused a stamp duty loss of Rs 254 crore to the state exchequer. Leader of Opposition Ajay Bhatt claimed that this loss will be too much for the government to bear. He asked the government to go for fresh registration of the lease deed at 2014 circle rates.
The company had registered the land deed of its 214-acre Haridwar industrial plot in February this year.
Source- Business Standard
