The Delhi government has approved the long-pending demand of the MCD to allow it to hike the tax being presently imposed on domestic animals and pets. But it has clarified that imposing any tax hike on owners of pets does not come under its purview but falls within the powers of the MCD.

However, it has made it clear that it has amended the DMC Act 1958, an enabling Act that lays down the maximum possible tax, at the repeated requests of the MCD. The MCD had been asking for upward revision of the maximum taxes it could levy from the archaic 1958 levels.

“This should be seen as just a structural amendment. As the value of money falls due to inflation, 50-year-old provisions need to be structurally amended. The MCD made the proposal so that if it is decided at some later date that it wants to hike the pet tax, it should be technically possible for the agency to hike it beyond Rs 5. This does not mean that we are actually going to hike the pet tax,” MCD Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta told Newsline.