ENFORCEMENT WING OF TAXATION DEPARTMENT IMPOSED PENALTY OF RS. 10.44 CRORE ON TAX EVADERS IN APRIL, 2021

Chandigarh, May 25:
Keeping a constant vigil on tax evaders, the Enforcement wing of Punjab GST Department has imposed penalty of Rs. 10.44 Crore during the month of April 2021.
Disclosing this, a spokesperson of the Taxation Department said that this is an all time high penalty imposed during a single month touching the double digit mark in crore for the first time. Despite the fact that the number of COVID-19 cases witnessed a surge in April 2021 and from last year the number of mobile wings are reduced to 7 from 13, the enforcement wing of State GST department got success in setting up a new benchmark, said the spokesperson.
Pointing out further, the spokesperson said that the officers in the enforcement wing of the Taxation Department keep round the clock vigil over the illegal movement of goods evading GST. “The officers work on the basis of inputs from informers, surprise visits, surveillance over movement of evasion prone commodities etc. When these vehicles involved in the GST evasion are detained, notice under the provisions of GST Act is issued and penalty is imposed after giving proper opportunity to concerned parties.”
Meanwhile, amongst the seven mobile wings of the department, the highest penalty of Rs. 3.35 Crore is imposed by Mobile wing Ludhiana. Maximum amount of penalty imposed by individual officers is Rs. 1,22,75,370 in 36 detention cases by STO Sumit Thapar from MW, Ludhiana with two more STO’s Baldeep Karan Singh, MW, Ludhiana and STO Rajeev Sharma, MW, Chd-2 imposed penalty of Rs. 1,06,14,045 and Rs. 1,01,88,808 respectively.
Notably, the commodity wise analysis of the total penalty imposed during the month of April 2021 reveals that Rs. 4.59 Crore penalty is imposed on Vehicles carrying iron scrap, Rs. 2.60 Crore on Vehicles carrying iron and steel finished goods, Rs. 1.04 Crore on Vehicles carrying Parchoon/mixed goods, Rs. 1.03 Crore on other Miscellaneous Goods, Rs. 80.67 Lakh on Vehicles carrying copper scrap, Rs. 17.47 Lakh penalty on Vehicles carrying Mustard Seed/ Oil. Likewise, Iron scrap accounted for 43.96% of the total penalty imposed during April 2021, while Parchoon goods accounted for 9.9% of the total penalty imposed.
This record performance, setting new benchmark was appreciated by Taxation Commissioner by congratulating all officers of Enforcement Wing for this achievement.