SCB to revive trade licences

HYDERABAD: After a gap of about six years, the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) has decided to issue trade licences.
The decision was taken at a board meeting chaired by its president Brig. S P Sreekumar and a formal announcement would be made in May. The process is being revived to weed out illegal businesses. SCB CEO N Srinivasa Reddy said they had stopped issuing licences due to illegal constructions.
He said in several cases of illegal construction, traders produced the licence issued by the board in court to prove that their building was legal.“In most cases the owner got a stay order in his favour,� he said.This led to the then board to stop issuing licences.
However, this time around, the board plans to insert a clause that the licence would only serve as a recognition of the trading activities and it cannot be linked to occupancy of a building being legitimate or not.
From pan shop owners to realtors, any business as mentioned in the list of nearly 250 trades would have to apply for the licence. Traders whose businesses existed before the board stopped issuing licences as well as the owners of new establishments would have to pay the same licence fee. The licence fee, which has not been increased for the time being, might be hiked after a few months.