Hyderabad: Upset with the demands of the management of Indu Aranya to pay GST on the supply of piped water and also the electricity supplied in common, the 249 residents of Indu Aranya Pallavi gated community have approached the Telangana State Consumer Commission seeking a direction to the developer to pay damages of Rs 10,000 to each resident.
Alleging that the developers of the Indu Aranya projects have resorted to many violations in the construction of the gated community, the Indu Aranya Pallavi Apartments Purchasers Welfare Association filed a complaint against the developers of Indu projects Limited and Indu Eastern Province Projects Limited, which is the facility maintenance office, saying that their demand for money from them in the name of GST, which was exempted by the Union of India, was unjust.
The association submitted to the Commission that though the Union ministry of Financial department of revenue clarified that piped water supply does not attract any GST, and the electricity bills do not contain any demand for GST, the facility maintainers issuing a demand notice to pay the GST was illegal.
Further, the association said that the facility maintainers served notices to all the flat purchasers threatening to withdraw the facility management services following their rejection to pay GST on exempted items.
It said that they were demanding GST on staff salaries, which was exempted from tax.
The association said that the gated community originally belonged to Telangana State Housing Board which had entered a developmental agreement with Indu Projects Limited to develop the project in 2006 and they formed Indu Eastern Province Projects Limited as a special purpose vehicle to develop and maintain the gated community.
The developers had demanded the extra amount from the members of the Association, depending on the size of their flats, with amounts ranging between '8,296/- to '11,659/- over and above the actual service tax which is being collected as per the bills. Initially, the developer company collected Rs. 30,000/- from each purchaser as annual maintenance charges.
The Telangana State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission issued notices to the housing board, Indu Projects and facility management office to respond on this matter.
