Noida: Residents of Sector 105 have alleged they are being issued labour cess notices demanding lakhs of rupees, without any on-ground inspection or physical verification, for properties built seven to 10 years ago. The notices warned of interest at 2% a month and penalties of up to 100%. Residents said they had already paid the amount at the time of lease deed.The sector RWA has written to the Noida DM, saying 40% of residents are either abroad or out of town and are being harassed by the demands. The labour department, however, said the notices were based on the 2017-18 GIS survey of properties and calculated at current rates set by the PWD.Labour cess is a tax collected on certain construction projects to fund welfare benefits for construction workers. In India, it is charged under the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996, typically at up to 1% of the project’s construction cost, and the amount collected is paid into a state welfare board to finance benefits such as health care, pensions, accident assistance and education support.Vipin Kumar Jain, current owner of B-235, said he bought the house in Sept 2022. “On Sept 14, I received a notice from the Noida Authority’s labour department, addressed to the previous owner Kamlesh Gupta, regarding an outstanding labour cess of Rs 94,500 for the financial year 2017-18. However, according to available payment records, she had already made labour cess payments of Rs 32,500 on June 16, 2016, and Rs 15,765 on April 15 that year.”Another resident, Sudhanshu Agnihotri, said that notices are being sent even to residents who have already deposited the labour cess, without verifying the correct records. “Senior citizens are forced to make repeated trips to the office for clarifications. They are facing difficulties climbing stairs due to the lack of lift facilities at the labour department office in Sector 3. This treatment of Noida residents, who contribute the highest revenue to Uttar Pradesh, is unfortunate,” he said.RWA president Deepak Sharma said issuing labour cess notices without any prior intimation after a decade is a violation of the rules. According to regulations, the notice should have been issued within three years of construction. “Owners of small 112-metre houses — with an actual construction cost of Rs 5–6 lakh — are being harassed because the authorities have arbitrarily inflated the valuation to Rs 11 lakh based on satellite imagery,” he said.“Nearly 40% of the residents are currently abroad or out of town, and their houses are locked. The Authority did not demand the labour cess while issuing completion certificates to these houses. Why are they doing this now?” asked another resident, Rajiv Dublesh.Meanwhile, Rakesh Dwivedi, additional labour commissioner, GB Nagar, told TOI, “We had sent three intimating notices to the residents. However, even after that, if there are any objections, the house owner can give a representation to the district labour commissioner’s office, and the matter can be resolved based on the laid-down rules,” he said.
