Troubled Saharas’ Aamby Valley sealed over tax default
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, March 1
Aamby Valley City, the gated township promoted by controversial businessman Subroto Roy’s Sahara India Group, was today sealed by Maharashtra’s Revenue Department for defaulting on non-agriculture tax amounting to Rs4.5 crore.
Officials from the Tehsildar’s office at Mulshi in Pune district today raided the properties of Aamby Valley around 9 am and asked the employees of Sahara India to vacate the premises.
After the last employee had left, Revenue Department officials locked and sealed the offices of Aamby Valley before sealing the main gate of the township.
Sources said there were not many employees as the cash-strapped group was operating with a skeleton staff. However, the entire premises have not been cordoned off since Sahara has created third-party rights by selling or leasing part of the property to investors and other buyers.
A small gate at the back of the premises has been left open for their use, officials said. The officials also served a notice to the resort authorities to clear the two-year old dues by March-end, failing which the government would initiate legal proceedings.
Aamby Valley city located near the Mulshi Dam at the Lonavala hill station is spread over 10,000 acres. However, the venture is in trouble following the arrest of Roy on orders of the SC. The Sahara Group is in trouble with the apex court over collection of hundreds of crores of rupees allegedly from small investors who do not seem to have adequate identity proofs and reachable addresses.
Local revenue officials said Sahara India had defaulted on non-agricultural tax, levied on agricultural land used for non-agricultural purpose, for more than two years. They said repeated reminders sent to the offices of Aamby Valley did not yield any tax.
