MOHALI: The role of senior officers of the taxation department is under scanner in the commercial vehicle tax scam. Punjab Vigilance Bureau officials believe that the two officials posted at the tax barrier could not have carried out the organised scam wihout the collusion of senior officers.
Also, Vigilance sources said that one of the accused, Harpal Singh drew a salary of Rs 20,000/month, while another accused, Salinder Singh, got Rs 14,000/month. They resorted to the scam to supplement their income.
The two tax officials posted at Jharmari tax barrier had been collecting bogus tax from commercial vehicles for the past one year, from which they earned approximately Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 per day using bogus receipts. The vigilance department produced the two officials in court on Thursday and obtained their two-day police remand. Now, they will ascertain for how long they had been duping the state exchequer and who were involved in the crime with them.
The Vigilance Bureau said that three accused, identified as Harpal Singh of Hasanpur village, Fatehabad in Haryana, Salinder Singh of Bishanpura village, Zirakpur and Praveen Kumar of Khanpur village, Kharar, Mohali district had been booked. Fake computer software, bogus stamps and seals used by them have also been seized. Harpal and Salinder have been arrested. A senior vigilance officer said, "The involvement of other officers or employees concerned will be ascertained during investigation. These officials have been collecting lakhs daily, which was not possible without the connivance of other officers in the department."
Around 2,000 commercial vehicles as well as new chassis of commercial vehicles enter Punjab from outside the state every day.
The vehicles pay tax to enter or pass through Punjab. The tax can be paid online by the driver or owner of the vehicle or deposited with the staff posted at the check post. Tax charged from an AC bus is Rs 5,000 per entry, for a non-AC bus, it is Rs 3,000, for chassis, it is Rs 2,000, and entry charge for cabs ranges from Rs 200 to Rs 300 per entry.
