Sanchita Bhat
Jammu, Feb 14
Large scale goods and service tax evasion has come to fore by Railway Bogie leaseholders, a nexus , which has been broken by Sales Tax Department Jammu.
Enforcement team of State Taxes Department conducted a surprise check at Railway Station Udhampur on basis of specific inputs that huge consignments of beedis / readymade garments / vehicle spare parts were being shipped to State through Jammu Mail on Feb 10 and were destined to Udhampur.
“Acting on this input all commodities were seized at Railway Station Udhampur after inventorying the whole lot and at present are under custody of State Taxes Department for further penal action under the GST law,” informed a source in STD.
It further disclosed that that seizure was performed while facing stiff resistance from the Railway Police Force employees stationed at Udhampur who tried their best to ensure that these illegally transported consignments are not handed over to the State Taxes Department.
However, the railway authorities at Udhampur gave full cooperation and ensured seizure of goods by the State Taxes Department. The approximate value of the goods seized is more than Rs.25 lacs.
Meanwhile, the Additional Commissioner, State Taxes, Administration and Enforcement, Jammu, Mohammed Shahid Saleem has sought cooperation from Railway Authorities under Section 72 of Jammu & Kashmir Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 and Central Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 which provides that all officers of police, railways, customs and those officers engaged in collection of land revenue including village officers shall assist tax officers in implementation of the Goods & Services Tax Act.
The State Taxes Department, Jammu has already vide communication No.ACSTJ/Adm/Misc./ PA/266-269 dated 19.12.2018 sought intervention of the Railway authorities at Jammu to allow officers / officials of the State Taxes Department to function from agreed location at parcel site, railway station, Jammu to check evasion of tax, which, at present is going on at large scale.
While intervention and action is sought immediately on above points from the railway authorities at Jammu, the State Taxes Department, Jammu has also issued notices to three main railway lease holders transporting taxable commodities to Jammu namely Xtra Freight Forwarders, D-246, Gali No. 10, Near Metro Station, Laxmi Nagar Delhi, SP Clearing & Forwarding 103-A, Block-A, DDA Flats, Sarai Kalekhan, Nizamudin East, New Delhi and M/s Pardeep 805, Gali Door Wali Paharganj, New-Delhi-110055 asking them to furnish HSN wise summary of the Goods transported/booked for transportation from Jammu to Delhi & Delhi to Jammu for the period July, 2017 to January, 2019, Individual/dealer wise consignments booked for Jammu from Delhi & vice versa for the period July, 2017 to January, 2019, ledger in respect of supply of services provided w.e.f 01.07.2017 to till date and Account of lease/rent paid to railways in lieu of lease rights from 01.01.2017 to 31.01.2019.
The information has been sought within a week’s time failing which action under Goods and Services tax laws shall be initiated including blacklisting and recommending cancellation of railway lease in their favour.
“Today the State Taxes Department, Jammu seized goods worth rupees one crore approximately from Railway Station Jammu being shipped to the State from Delhi through Railway Bogies without proper documents”, said sources adding that this is for the first time in the history of State Taxes Department that such a huge quantity of goods has been seized and is undergoing scrutiny. Actual value of the goods shall be ascertained after the scrutiny is over.
The inspection cum seizure of goods started on 13th of February of 2019 and continued till 14th evening and more than 300 nags of various commodities were seized and are put to scrutiny.
The action has been initiated by the State Taxes Department sequel to launch of a full-fledged enquiry into the transhipment of taxable commodities illegally through Railway Bogies in contravention to the GST Rules.
The department has also issued notice to various railway bogie leaseholders including, SP Clearing & Forwarding, New Delhi, Pardeep, New Delhi, Xtra Freight Forwarders, Delhi, On Dot Courier & Cargo Service, New Delhi, Ravinder Verma, Delhi Suriya Kumar Pandey, Delhi, Fast Track Courier & Cargo Pvt. Ltd., Kishore Shinde and SK Rail Parcel Service Pvt. Ltd. asking them to furnish the information viz., HSN Wise summary of Goods transported / booked for transportation for the period July, 2017 to January, 2019, Individual/dealer wise consignments booked, Ledger in respect of supply of services provided for the said period and account of lease/rent paid to the railways during the period.
The State Tax Department has also written a communication to Chief Parcel Supervisor of Jammu / Udhampur / Katra / Samba / Kathua railway stations to release goods received through railway lease bogies / parcel bookings only after checking GST invoices & e-way bills as required under GST Rules.
The department has intensified the vigilance mechanism to ensure that no evasion of goods and services tax takes place on any account. The department has shared the information with the Central Bureau of Investigation, Railway Police Board (Vigilance) and Central Excise as well.
The State Taxes Department, Jammu has also taken up the matter with the Director, Vigilance, Police (Railway Board), New Delhi, Central Bureau of Investigation and Commissioner, Central Excise, Jammu to intervene in the matter for protecting the Central & State Goods & Services Tax from further evasion through Railways. Besides, the issue will be also brought to the notice of GST Council for required corrective measures.
