I-T Dept to serve notice on St Peter’s school

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, January 24

After the completion of the income tax survey, the Income Tax Department is all set to issue a show-cause notice to St Peter’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 37, and launch prosecution against Gillco International School, Kharar.

According to sources in the department, the certificate given to the school under Section 12-A of the Income Tax Act will be withdrawn. The schools are exempted from income tax under Section 12-A, where charitable institutions get relief.

Statements of the trustees of St Peter’s are being recorded. Some property documents are still unexplained.

Teachers at St Peter’s have told IT officials informally that the school used to take back a part of their salary, when they were questioned about blank cheques bearing their signatures.

During the IT survey, it had been found that trustees of St Peter’s have bought luxury cars, like Endeavour and Kodiaq from the profits they had earned from the school, said a senior income tax officer. Sources said the luxury cars were being personally used by the trustees.

Also, it has come out that residential properties were being bought in Sectors 11 and 18 from the school profits. So, Section 13 of the Income Tax Act stands violated. The assets will be evaluated at market rate. The trust, running the school, could face a penalty of Rs 30 crore-Rs 40 crore for the past seven to eight years.

Regarding Gillco International School, IT officials said their application for a Section 12-A certificate was rejected but still they showed in their income tax returns that they had the certificate. “We will issue a prosecution notice,” said a senior IT officer.