The spinning mill owners of Punjab are concerned over the delay in rollback of the mandatory registration of spinning mills under the Punjab Agriculture Produce Marketing Act and entry tax on ginned cotton.
It may be recalled that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a meeting held with a delegation of Northern India Textile Mills’ Association (Nitma) on October 21, 2009, decided to withdraw the required registration with the Punjab Agriculture Marketing Board as the cotton procured by the spinning mills was levied the ‘mandi’ tax. Since no written notification had been sent so far, the Mandi Board continued to send notices to the spinning mills for not taking the licence, said a Nitma spokesperson.
The spokesperson added that in the meeting, the Punjab government had taken the decision that no registration would be required in future for the spinning mills under the Punjab Agriculture Produce Markets Act, 1962, and necessary amendments would be made in the relevant Act/ Rules. Simultaneously, the CM had asked the secretary, Mandi Board to immediately withdraw the criminal cases, which had been filed against spinning mills, for not taking the licences required under Punjab Agriculture Produce Markets Act, 1962.
