Tax evasion on imported cars: PAC raps Maharashtra transport department for Rs16.61 lakh loss

The public accounts committee (PAC) has slammed the state government for incurring a loss of Rs16.61 lakh owing to evasion of taxes on high-end cars imported from other countries.

The transport department incurred a loss of Rs16.61 lakh as the transport officials at Thane, Nashik and Kolhapur failed to collect the taxes in nine cases.

The committee has directed the department to check similar cases in other transport offices as there is a similar possibility of tax evasion before digitisation was introduced. The committee has also directed action against the officials concerned and asked the government to submit a report to it in three months. The committee held hearings and cross-examined officials from the transport department of the government after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) passed strictures about the evasion in its report in 2011-12. Nine high-end cars, including one BMW, were found to have evaded duty in 2010.

“The imported cars should have paid the one-time import duty, but random checks at the three districts found evasion of the duty. After strictures by the CAG, the duty was collected but no action was initiated against the officials responsible,” the committee stated in its report, tabled in the legislature on Thursday. It has also suggested that the department closely monitor the ports in the country to avoid similar evasion.

After the CAG reported about the evasion, the PAC held series of meetings over the past four years. The transport department was also notified by the PAC that similar cases of evasion in the case of 300 high-end motorbikes were unearthed, leading to the suspension of 25 transport officials. The PAC also suggested better communication with other Central government departments .

The PAC issued strictures against the excise department for lesser recovery of Rs1.10 crore towards licence fees from 132 shops in Kalyan-Dombivli. The report says that the department did not take into consideration that the population of the city was more than 10 lakh and the licence fee, which is based on the population, should have been more. The population of the twin cities had crossed 10-lakh mark in 2010-11.