No annual trade licence needed for mall’s own diesel generator: Karnataka HCBengaluru: Shopping malls do not need to obtain or renew a trade licence from the BBMP for diesel generator sets they own and maintain, the Karnataka High Court has ruled.A division bench comprising Justices Anu Sivaraman and T P Vivekananda made the observation while allowing a writ appeal filed by Island Star Mall Developers Pvt Ltd, which operates Phoenix Market City in Bengaluru.The court held that the BBMP cannot insist on an annual trade licence and levy hefty renewal fees for a mall’s own generator set when the necessary inspections and certifications are carried out by the Electrical Inspector and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).How the dispute beganIsland Star Mall Developers installed a diesel generator set at Phoenix Market City, Dyavasandra Phase-II Industrial Area, and obtained a licence from the BBMP in 2011 after paying Rs 10 lakh. In 2013, it paid Rs 12.5 lakh towards renewal fees and penalty while seeking clarification from the civic body.In 2015, the BBMP again demanded a renewal fee. The mall developer challenged the demand before the High Court.A single bench dismissed the petition in 2022, holding that the BBMP could demand the fee under Section 354 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act. The judge had held that a diesel generator set was machinery that generated electrical energy through the combustion of diesel and therefore required permission under the provision.The developer then filed an appeal before the division bench.What the division bench saidDisagreeing with the single bench, the division bench clarified that shopping malls within BBMP limits do not require a trade licence merely because they operate as malls. Individual shops and business establishments functioning inside them, however, must obtain their own trade licences.“The owners of shopping mall/commercial complex/business establishments would only pay the annual property tax in terms of the relevant provisions of the BBMP Act,” the bench pointed out.On the generator licence, the court observed: “Except the paper work of issuance of the license by collecting the prescribed fee, no other service is being rendered by the BBMP, let alone the inspection and verification of the fitness of the diesel generator set.”“All the required inspections and certification are being done by the Electrical Inspector and the KSPCB,” it added.The bench said the BBMP’s insistence that the appellant obtain and renew a trade licence annually by paying a substantial fee “cannot be sustained”.The court clarified that its ruling would not apply where a diesel generator set is installed and maintained by a person or entity other than the mall owner or occupier. In such a case, operating the generator would amount to a trade or business requiring a separate trade licence.“In the present case, the appellant itself is the owner of diesel generator set, it only maintaining the same,” the bench noted.While allowing the appeal, the court declined the developer’s request for a refund of the licence fees already paid.
