UT Excise Dept acts tough with defaulters

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 19

In a first, the UT Excise and Taxation Department has attached the properties of two major defaulters of value added tax (VAT), against whom over Rs 9 crore was outstanding for years. 

Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Popli issued the attachment orders while using the powers of the Collector under the Punjab Excise Act, which is effective in Chandigarh.

Sources said the two tax defaulters were the owners of petrol pumps — Gurdial Singh and Sons in Sector 22, which is one of the oldest petrol pumps inf the city, and Brahm Sarup and Sons in Sector 28 on Madhya Marg.

The former has around Rs 8.26-crore tax dues while the latter owes the department over Rs 92 lakh. 

The properties of the Sector 22 petrol pump owner that have been attached include a residential house in Sector 34 and a piece of land in Zirakpur. An SCO at Sector 26 belonging to the owner of the Sector 28 petrol pump has been attached.

The department resorted to invoking the provisions of the Punjab Land Revenue Act to recover the dues after attaching the properties of the two defaulters.

Excise and Taxation Officer Mandeep Kaur had initiated the proceedings for the recovery of dues.

The sources said since the attachment orders had been issued, their owners could not make any transaction related to these properties. They could neither sell nor take loan against them. 

The sources said if the owners did not clear their dues, the department would auction the attached properties.

Didn’t pay vat dues

Sources said the two VAT  defaulters were the owners of petrol pumps — Gurdial Singh and Sons in Sector 22 and Brahm Sarup and Sons in Sector 28. The former has around Rs 8.26-crore tax dues, while the latter owes the department over Rs 92 lakh.