Wind-power giant petitions Bombay high court against panchayat order

Wind-power giant Suzlon has petitioned the Bombay High Court against an order passed by the gram panchayats of Satara demanding a property/building tax on wind farms.

A bunch of petitions filed by Suzlon and 29 other windmill owners say that in January this year, the sarpanch of villages in Satara sent them notices under the Bombay Village Panchayats Act, 1958 and the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Taxes and Fees Rules, 1960, seeking property/building tax.

The majority of the windmills in the state are in Satara and most of these are developed, run and maintained by Suzlon. The windmill owners are one of the power supply sources of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL).

The petitions states that the coercive action by gram panchayats would have an adverse affect on the functioning of the wind farms.

This, it says, would indirectly lead to a default on the part of the windmill owners in supplying the contracted power to MSEDCL. As a result, the State as a whole and the public at large, would suffer.

The petitioners have claimed that the Act does not envisage any such tax payable on a windmill per se. “The gram panchayats have raised demand with retrospective effect. It has not only raised demand of building tax for 2008-09 but also for the previous years from 2000 to 2006,” says the petition.

“Gram panchayats have raised exorbitant property tax demands ranging from Rs. 5,03,895 in one village to Rs. 1,40,25280 in another village within the same district. This establishes that the said charges as levied are arbitrary and whimsical,” said Filji Frederick, advocate for the petitioners.

The petition also states that the windmill owners made representations to the gram panchayats. However, the authorities failed to respond.

The petition claims that as per the Bombay Village Panchayat Act, a building is defined as a hut, shed, or other enclosure, whether used as a human dwelling or for any other purpose whatsoever and also includes walls, verandahs, fixed platforms, plinths, doorsteps and the like.

According to the petitions, a windfarm comprises of windmills and a small immovable structure, the- Central Monitoring Stations or CMS buildings. The CMS building houses computers and other equipment to facilitate the running of the windmills. The petition states that at the most, the CMS buildings may fall within the purview of the Act.