VAT scam probe unearths misuse of ‘C’ forms by excise officials

CHANDIGARH: Investigation into the value-added tax (VAT) scam, unearthed by the Haryana excise department in 2015, has led the state administration to yet another scam, which involves wrongdoing at the behest of some officials of the excise and taxation department.
As many as 21,623 ‘C’ forms, having a value of Rs 12,670 crore, were found by the investigators to have been cancelled after issuance in 2015-16 financial year. The department is suspicious about the issuance and subsequent cancellation of these forms, which have been mostly linked to Gurgaon and Panipat districts of Haryana.
More than dozen-and-a-half officials of the excise and taxation department, businessmen from Gurgaon, Faridabad, Panipat and other districts of the state are facing police investigation in this matter. The excise and taxation officials under scanner had initially issued the ‘C’ forms for consideration. As the investigation began into the 2015 VAT scam, the suspect officers started issuing cancellation letters for the ‘C’ forms.
The forms, in opinion of the department, were cancelled to hide alleged wrongdoing by these officers. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg and there is no estimation yet of the total loss to the exchequer.
Haryana additional chief secretary (excise and taxation) Sanjeev Kaushal has ordered re-examination of all the ‘C’ forms detected so far.
He also directed the joint excise and taxation commissioners (JETCs) to probe the circumstances in which these forms were issued as well as cancelled. The JETCs have been told to work with the district excise and taxation collectors (DETCs) across Haryana and June 30 has been fixed as the deadline for submission of their report.
“Let the officers submit their report after completing the probe,” said Kaushal when asked about the next course of action. Kaushal, however, said that strict action would be taken against departmental officials if found to be involved in issuance and cancellation of forms to dubious firms.
The officers maintain that only after the JETCs submit the report the modus operandi and purpose of this baffling issuance and cancellation would be clear. During investigation was even found that in order to give benefit of these ‘C’ forms, some had allegedly been issued by the officers under suspicion to non-existent firms.