Daily Pioneer: Lucknow: Wednesday,
May 18, 2016.
A leading
jeweller formed his own trust and transferred huge amounts showing them as
donations for welfare work, to duck
paying Income Tax.
This surafced
after an application under Right to Information (RTI) Act was filed.
After the
jeweller's sinister plan was exposed, the Sub-Registrar of Co-operative and
Chit Fund Society cancelled the registration of the said trust and intimated
top officials of the Income Tax (IT) department for necessary action.
In the entire
expose', State Information Commissioner (SIC) Hafiz Usman played vital role.
When contacted Usman said that he directed the Chief Secretary to carry out an
audit of such trusts who collect huge donations from business houses and
individuals to evade tax.
Talking to
`The Pioneer’, Hafiz Usman said that a social activist of Muzaffarnagar filed
an application under RTI in August 2014 and sought information on a trust
`Balaji Dham Mandir Sewa Samiti’. The questions pertained to the it’s members,
office bearers, procedure of selection, membership fee collected from members
and office bearers, and balance sheet copy.
When the
trust refused to provide information, the activist moved an application before
Sub-Registrar of Co-operative and Chit Fund Society in Muzaffarnagar and sought
the same details about the Samiti.
Despite this,
the Samiti office bearers gave no reply query and instead claimed that the
information could not be given as the trust did not come under the ambit of RTI
Act.
Tired of
running around, the activist then approached the SIC court after which the
Sub-Registrar was summoned. But when officials did not take interest, the SIC
imposed a fine on the officer and instructed him appear with complete
information or face the consequences.
Only after
this, the Sub-Registrar appeared before the SIC and the facts were shocking to
say the least. As per the report, the trust was formed by leading jeweller of
Muzaffarnagar, Atul Kumar Singhal. Ironically, all the office bearers happened
to be his family members.
The report
said that Singhal transferred huge cash as donations to the trust every year
and got receipts for the 'donations' from his own trust to save Income Tax.
Through this illegal exercise, he evaded tax worth several crore rupees.
It also came
to the fore that similar modus operandi was adopted by various businessmen
running trusts and Non-Government Organisations to evade paying taxes
inflciting loss of several hundred crores of rupees to the government
exchequer.
Later, the
SIC wrote to Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan asking him to set up a team and carry
out audit such firms in the state, who receive big donations to facilitate
Income Tax relief to businessmen and corporate houses.
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