DNA:
Mumbai: Monday, 04 May 2015.
It was a Rs
106 crore worth catch. The raid on Dr Uday Salunkhe, member of the governing
council of Shikshan Prasarak (Shi Pra) Mandali as well as the director of
Welingkar Institute in Mumbai on November 20, 2010, yielded exactly that much.
However, the very Income Tax department, in 2014, reassessed the worth of the
seized assets to Rs 30 crore.
A similar
raid earlier in July 21, 2008, on Anant Mate, the vice-chairman of the
governing council of Shi Pra Mandali, had found him to be in possesssion of Rs
22 lakh unaccounted money.
In both the
cases, Shi Pra Mandali submitted before IT department (letter dated March 18,
2013) that the persons in question were its office-bearers, and that the onus
of money involved lies on the institution.
Shi Pra
Mandali, in existence for over 125 years, has its head office in Pune and has
40-odd educational institutions in cities including Pune, Mumbai, Solapur,
Ratnagiri and Benguluru.
Members of
the civic society, who moved Bombay high court against Shi Pra Mandali on
September 21, 2013, were also pointing out to these anomalies in the conduct of
the educational trust.
From the
questions they raised, it could be augured that these governing council members
too were probably in the dark about the conduct of the institution. "What
was the urgency for Shi Pra Mandali to own the responsibility of the raids held
on individuals, since it resulted in tax liability of Rs 25 crore on the
institution," they wanted to know. And, the bigger question involved is, if
the tax liablility is of Rs 25 crore, what was the income involved?
They wanted
to know as to why the 'income' has not been shown in any of the accounts with
Shi Pra Mandali and why the governing council chairman Abhay Dadhe or Mate were
hesitant in furnishing the details even after the same was sought under the
Right to Information (RTI) Act.
They also
took Shi Pra Mandali to task for failing to hold the annual general body
meeting for six consecutive years, depriving the members of the platform where
they could raise such issues.
Abhay Dadhe
and Anant Mate, in response to dna queries, revealed before Zee Media
Corporation Ltd team on February 18, this year that there are 50-odd cases
pending against the Shi Pra Mandali or its institutions in various courts
across the country. They assured that they would not hide anything and
requested "some time" to consult their lawyer in Mumbai.
The Zee-dna
team, which is in possesssion of all files pertaining to IT raids and other
related documents, has been waiting ever since, only to find the trust
office-bearers seeking more and more time. After the duo came up with a fresh
date of May 31, dna conveyed its inability to wait for so long and decided to
go ahead with publishing its findings.
"Both
Dadhe and Mate are involved in financial irregularities, and are not forwarding
any information even after we sought the same under the RTI Act," said
advocate Mihir Prabudesai, who approached High Court against Shi Pra Mandali.
"The IT department had imposed a tax of Rs 25 crore on Shi Pra Mandali,
taking in to account the previous dues and cumulative liabilities. Two of its
current governing council members, Jayant Kirad and Satish Pawar, have pointed
out that the trust has been paying Rs 8-10 lakh as tax dues every month, which
is well affecting its expansion plans," pointed out Prabudesai.
"Similarly,
during the raid in which Rs 22 lakh unaccounted money was found in possesssion
of Mate, it could be established that the money could have been collected as
capitation fee or donaton; then why the same was not being deposited in bank
accounts of the trust?," he asked.
Damodar
Bhandari, another petitioner, asks why the trust owned up the financial
liabilities when the Income Tax department had conducted raids only against
individuals. "If Income Tax department has levied Rs 25 crore as tax,
where has the income gone," asks Bhandari.
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