Punjab Government on Tuesday freezed the portal of three auto-dealers defrauding the state Transport Department, besides making a recovery of Rs 56 lakhs from them.
“It has come to the notice of the Department that three auto dealers, hailing from Amritsar, were engaging in defrauding the Transport Department by levying full tax payable on the price from the customers at the time of selling the vehicle but paying the state exchequer taxes at only half the prices thus causing loss to the state exchequer whose rightful share is ex-showroom price minus taxes,” said the state Transport Minister Aruna Chaudhary.
She said that cracking the whip, the portals of these three dealers — Novelty Hyundai, Aryan Hyundai and PNR Motors were freezed besides making a recovery of Rs 55,74,223. Of this, recovery of Rs 11,85,154 has been made from Novelty Hyundai, Rs 6,43,780 from Aryan Honda and Rs 37,45,289 from the PNR Motors.
The plan of five-year audit of each agency is also in the pipeline, she added.
Chaudhary said that a thorough probe into the matter is on by the State Transport Commissioner Dilraj Singh so as to get into the depth of the entire matter and catch the other fish muddying the pond.
Reiterating that probity is the byword of the present State Government and any malpractice would be severely dealt with, she said that the Transport Department is one of the leading propellers of the state’s economy and that explains why zero tolerance policy has been adopted and scrupulously adhered to by the Punjab Government towards those causing loss to the government exchequer.