Private firm accused of evading tax

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 18

A local resident has accused a private firm of manufacturing water meters in an illegal manner, causing losses to the exchequer by evading tax worth crores of rupees.

Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Ranjit Avenue, along with noted lawyer Ravi Mahajan, while addressing mediapersons, alleged that the said firm, located in East Mohan Nagar, continued manufacturing meters even after the cancellation of its licence by the metrology department. As per its official website, it has been manufacturing 3 lakh water meters annually whereas the record furnished with taxmen states that it makes just 1 lakh meters, he said.

He alleged after finding it out, he filed a complaint with income tax, sales tax, metrology and Vigilance Bureau officials, but got no response.

Amarjit Singh, Controller, Legal Metrology, Punjab, said that the department had banned the firm from manufacturing water meters after cancelling its license. The company has filed an appeal before the principal secretary of the department for its renewal which is still pending.

Meanwhile, firm owner Amanpreet Singh rubbished the allegations. He said he had a family dispute with complainant, who had filed many “bogus” complaints to harass his family. “As far as the licence is concerned, it is not cancelled. We have applied for its renewal which is pending,” he added.