Patna, Jan. 27: Most commercial establishments in the state capital do not have the licence from Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) that is compulsory under the provisions of the Bihar Municipality Act to carry out business operations.

The reason: the civic body does not have enough employees to grant licence to the commercial users.

“It is very much possible that you are buying shoes or clothes from a shop running without a valid licence. Not because the shopkeepers are apathetic but because the licensing department of PMC is almost dysfunctional for want of employees,” said a senior official of the corporation on condition of anonymity.

The official said the licences for trading have not been issued for several years.

“The corporation loses crores in revenue that could be collected through licences and renewal fees,” added the official.

According to Section 342 of the Bihar Municipal Act, 2005, no premises can be used for non-residential purpose without a municipal licence. The act enables the PMC to determine the licence fee for various kinds of business from time to time. However, with only two employees in the licensing department, it is virtually non-functional.

PMC commissioner Manish Kumar said there is acute shortage of employees in the civic body.

“Our primary focus is on departments like revenue and advertisement, as they generate most of the revenue. I am aware that altogether there are 337 establishments, which are in operation within our jurisdiction without a municipal licence. The shortage of employees is the reason why we cannot divert manpower from the other wings of the corporation,” Kumar said.

At present, the corporation has about 2,800 employees, out of which 1,800 employees are in the cleaning cadre, said a source.

Section 343 of the act also states that the corporation should maintain two separate registers: one should contain the premises-wise information of non-residential uses, indicating the unique premises number, and other should record details of non-residential users like groups of factories, warehouses, medical institutions and educational institutions. The PMC, however, has no such database.

The act also enables the corporation to ban non-residential use of a premise if it is operating without a licence.

“If the chief municipal officer is of the opinion that any premises is being used for non-residential purpose without a licence under this act or otherwise than in conformity with the terms of a licence granted in respect thereof, he may stop the use of any such premises for any such purpose for a specified period by such means as he may consider necessary,” the act says.

Incidentally, even the employees working with the corporation have no clue about PMC’s power to issue the licences. “I have no clue if there is any such provision because I have never see it happen,” said Chandra Prakash Singh, the president of PMC workers’ union.

Licence to sell

The law

lAccording to Section 342 of the Bihar Municipal Act 2005, no premises can be used for

non-residential purposes

without a licence from the municipal corporation

lIf any such establishment

is operating, the municipal commissioner can order

its closure

lAbout 337 kind of activities need to obtain licence

The ground reality

lA large number of commercial establishments are operating without any licence

The reason

lPatna Municipal Corporation is facing severe shortage of employees. The licensing department has been functioning with only two employees

lNo trade licence has been issued for several years now

The result

lThe corporation has been losing crores of rupees in revenue