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Tax trouble for HP pollution control board; accounts sealed
Ambika Sharma/TNS

failed to comply Pollution Control Board had failed to clear tax arrears of about Rs 31 crore The IT Department had issued a notice to the board on March 13, directing it to pay up the amount

Solan, March 26
The Income Tax Department today sealed the bank accounts of the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board (HPPCB) for failing to clear tax arrears of about Rs 31 crore.

The tax pertains to financial years 2008-2009, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011. The Income Tax Department had issued a notice to the board on March 13, directing it to pay up the amount.

Board member-secretary Sanjay Sood said the notice was received on March 12 and they were told April 12 was the last date to deposit the arrears. Denying that the board accounts had been sealed, Sood said they had, in fact, received a refund of Rs 6 crore from the IT Department earlier this month. Sources in the board confirmed that its bank accounts had been sealed.

Income Tax commissioner Ramesh Chand said it was routine procedure to attach property of those who fail to deposit due tax after issuance of a notice by their department and a similar procedure had been adopted for the board.

The board collected consent fee worth crores on account of Water and Air Act from hundreds of industrial units in the state every year. This fee is meant to be spent on undertaking pollution mitigation works in industrial areas, but sources in the board said such funds were converted into fixed deposit schemes, which further created scope of levying tax on the income generated by the board.