The state government has started auctioning properties of VAT and GST defaulters to recover dues running into crores.
Finance, Planning and Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday said the government had intensified its recovery drive against tax defaulters by commencing public auction of properties belonging to ‘chronic’ VAT and GST evaders.
The first major auction was conducted in Mohali on Friday. The property of a tax defaulter firm, M/s Sumit Engineering, was sold for Rs 13.22 crore. Cheema said another successful auction was carried out in Shahkot, Jalandhar, involving the property of M/s MR Rice Mills. It fetched Rs 1.11 crore. The minister said nearly 20 more properties would go under the hammer in the coming months. He said, “A sum of Rs 3.58 crore was deposited by the successful bidders directly into the government treasury on Friday and the balance will be legally recovered in the coming week.”
The stringent recovery proceedings included physical attachment and auction of properties. The actions are specifically targeted at tax defaulters who chose not to avail themselves of the relief provided under the state’s one-time settlement (OTS) scheme.
The minister said the government had extended the OTS scheme to July 31. He said the scheme provided a transparent and highly favourable mechanism to taxpayers with pending VAT liabilities to settle their dues quickly, thereby avoiding litigation and coercive state action.
