I-T sleuths call on 2 schools

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 23

The Income Tax (I-T) Department conducted surveys at two schools — St Peter’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 37, Chandigarh, and Gillco International School, Kharar, today. The surveys were under way till the filing of this report.

Teams of 15 I-T sleuths, along with four police personnel each, were present at both schools.

The I-T surveys are conducted under Section 133-A of the Income Tax Act under which only office premises are checked, while in search operations, both office and residence are checked. The schools are exempt from income tax under Section 12-A where charitable institutions get relief. The exemption certificate has to be sought from the Commissioner, Income Tax. Deputy Commissioner (Income Tax) Garima Sharma conducted the survey at St Peter’s, while Joint Commissioner (Income Tax) VK Kataria led the proceedings at Gillco International School.

The surveys were conducted under the overall supervision of Commissioner, Income Tax (Exemption), Ram Mohan Singh and Additional Commissioner Abhishek Pal Garg. Incriminating documents were reportedly found at both schools.

At St Peter’s, trustees bought luxury cars from profits

St Peter’s Senior Secondary School had a certificate of I-Texemption under Section 12-A of the Income Tax Act. It was found that trustees had bought luxury cars such as Endeavour and Kodiaq from profits they have earned from the school.

Sources said the luxury cars were being used by the trustees for personal purposes. Also, it had come out that residential properties were being bought in Sector 11 and 18 from the school profits.

So, Section 13 of the Income Tax Act was violated.

Blank cheques were also recovered. These cheques had signatures of teachers, said a senior income tax officer. “It appears that first salaries are paid to teachers and then they are forced to pay back a part of it,” he said. The certificate under Section 12-A of the I-T Act could be withdrawn from St Peter’s Senior Secondary School. The assets will be evaluated at the market rate. The trust running the school could face a penalty of Rs 30 crore to Rs 40 crore for the past seven-eight years.

When Principal Geeta Kaushik was contacted, her daughter picked up the phone and said she was not available to take the call.

Gillco didn’t have exemption under Sec 12-A of the IT act

Gillco International School did not even have exemption under Section 12-A of the I-T Act. However, the school has been claiming in its income tax returns that it has an exemption certificate. “So, now it could face prosecution for cheating under the IPC,” said a senior income tax officer. The school had opened recently. Initially, it faced some losses. It could face a penalty of Rs 4 to Rs 5 crore after evaluation of the past three years. A senior officer said the school was associated with a builder, but no case of buying property from school profit had come to light so far. The school Principal could not be contacted. “We never applied for exemption. There is a misunderstanding regarding our returns. We are in losses,” said Ranjit Gill, one of the trustees of the school.