Ludhiana: Serious allegations have been levelled against the state Goods and Services Tax (GST) department. Badish Jindal, president of All industries and Trade Forum (AITF) on Wednesday has sent a letter to Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh alleging a scam in issuing the GST numbers to businessmen. According to him, new applications for GST registration are deliberately rejected by the state GST officials so that the applicant is forced to contact the officer directly, who then fleeces the businessman.
In his letter to CM, Jindal said, “Many times we have raised the complaints to the authorities but no action has been taken against any of the corrupt officer. The state is losing more than 60% of the revenue due to such corrupt officers.”
According to Jindal, the officers at the department issue show cause notices till they are contacted personally by the businessmen. He said the ratio of issuing show cause notices in SGST is more than 90% whereas the applications sent to Central Goods and Services Department merely got 10% show causes and rejections.
He also said the officers tell people openly to pay or be rejected. “To check the system, I filed GST registration application myself online, which went to a Ludhiana SGST officer. Even after replying the show cause notice, my application was rejected without assigning any reason,” added Jindal.
Jindal also mentioned, “One of the reasons for such frauds in Ludhiana is the long posting of officers who have formed nexus with agents and passer system.” He insisted a vigilance enquiry must be ordered against the officers. According to him, “Punjab has a potential to collect GST of more than Rs 70,000 crore a year, but unfortunately due to corruption in the state we are seriously lagging behind.”
When contacted, Pawan Garg, deputy excise and taxation commissioner (DETC), Ludhiana, said, “These are baseless allegations. Only applications that have genuine problems or incomplete are rejected. Our department stands committed to serving the businessmen. Moreover, now that everything is made online, there is no question of any office misusing this process. Every document demanded by the officer can be submitted online and application can be processed.”
In his letter to CM, Jindal said, “Many times we have raised the complaints to the authorities but no action has been taken against any of the corrupt officer. The state is losing more than 60% of the revenue due to such corrupt officers.”
According to Jindal, the officers at the department issue show cause notices till they are contacted personally by the businessmen. He said the ratio of issuing show cause notices in SGST is more than 90% whereas the applications sent to Central Goods and Services Department merely got 10% show causes and rejections.
He also said the officers tell people openly to pay or be rejected. “To check the system, I filed GST registration application myself online, which went to a Ludhiana SGST officer. Even after replying the show cause notice, my application was rejected without assigning any reason,” added Jindal.
Jindal also mentioned, “One of the reasons for such frauds in Ludhiana is the long posting of officers who have formed nexus with agents and passer system.” He insisted a vigilance enquiry must be ordered against the officers. According to him, “Punjab has a potential to collect GST of more than Rs 70,000 crore a year, but unfortunately due to corruption in the state we are seriously lagging behind.”
When contacted, Pawan Garg, deputy excise and taxation commissioner (DETC), Ludhiana, said, “These are baseless allegations. Only applications that have genuine problems or incomplete are rejected. Our department stands committed to serving the businessmen. Moreover, now that everything is made online, there is no question of any office misusing this process. Every document demanded by the officer can be submitted online and application can be processed.”
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