‘Cops in uniform can be avoided during income tax raids’

Nagpur: Three city businessmen — chairman of Urich Group Krishna Kumar Taori, Laxmikant Gopal of Kalpana Group, and Pankaj Thakare from Technosoft Integrated Systems — were awarded the Nagpur Chamber of Commerce Limited’s (NCCL) annual awards on Monday.
At the award function, the issue of policemen accompanying income tax officials during raids was raised by the chamber’s former chairman Kailash Jogani. He was chairman in the previous tenure.
A chartered accountant, Jogani said that during search and seizure operations cops also accompany taxmen to provide security to the latter. However, they can come in plain clothes also, instead of being in uniform. He said the presence of policemen not only leaves the person whose premises are raided scared, but also leads to social embarrassment.
Jogani later told TOI that income tax raids cannot be compared to action against criminals, where high security is needed. It cannot be denied that tax officials need protection. However excessive presence of police, especially in uniform, can be avoided, he said.
He said Vidarbha cannot be termed as a backward region as it has the infrastructure yet industrial investment remains low, citing examples of Vedanta Foxconn and Tata Airbus going to Gujarat. This can be due to lack of political will despite important leaders being from here. Only a small number of MoUs signed during business summits have translated into actual investment, he said, also calling for starting the Metro route connecting Pardi at the earliest.
Govind Pasari, current NCCL president, asked members to gear up to meet new challenges in trade. Asking them not be to daunted by digital age, he said businessmen should change themselves with the changing times. Secretary Tarun Nirban also stressed on timely upgradation of technical means by traders.
Established in 1932, NCCL is estimated to have 12,000 members through its constituent associations.