Punjab Excise and Taxation Department has unearthed a scam involving its own staffers who allegedly helped traders evade tax by changing particulars of goods crossing the State’s borders.
According to department officials, an inquiry has shown that entries or transactions amounting to Rs 40 crore have been changed over the past three months. Officials including inspectors and data-entry operators at Information Collection Centres (ICC), set up at State barriers, were found to be conniving with dealers to change the value or nature of the commodity passing through their hands.
The irregularities were traced during an inquiry conducted by additional commissioner SS Bangar following complaints, said State Excise and Taxation Commissioner Anurag Verma.Scrutiny of computer data from last year revealed, in one instance, hosiery goods worth Rs 2.59 lakh entered at ICC ludhiana railway station, was allegedly shown as knitted cloth by departmental inspector Pawan Sood.
Hosiery goods are taxable at the rate of 6.05 per cent, whereas knitted cloth is a
tax-free item.Verma informed that Sood, who has been placed under suspension, was in the habit of indulging in corrupt practices and had similarly changed details in around 30 such transactions amounting to Rs 1.10 crore in the past three months.
Another inspector, Naresh Kumar, who too was found engaging in such malpractice, has been transferred to Gurdaspur from the Shamboo ICC, Verma added.
He further said that 12 document clearance executives, engaged to assist staff at ICC barriers, were also found engaging in malpractices.
Ajay Kumar, a document clearance executive, allegedly changed the nature of commodity from auto parts, worth Rs 14.60 lakh, to waste yarn costing Rs 1.80 lakh. The consignment passed through ICC, Khanauri, in October 2012.
Auto parts are taxable at 14.30 per cent, while waste yarn gets taxed at a rate of 6.05 per cent. Taking very serious view of the matter, Verma said that apart from suspending the Inspectors, the services of 12 document clearance executives involved in malpractices have been dispensed with.
In fact, Verma has asked the additional excise and taxation commissioner SDS Dhillon to examine the possibility of lodging an FIR in the matter against the inspectors, document clearance executives and most importantly the traders who were the beneficiary of this malpractice.
In a strict warning, Verma requested the people to bring to his notice tax evasion, that came to their notice, by sending an email to - punjabetc@gmail.com.
“The department is adopting a two-pronged strategy - firstly, the department is taking all possible steps to make life simpler for honest tax payers, and secondly, at the same time, the department will come down very heavily on anybody who tries to defraud the State of its legitimate revenues,” he said.