Paonta Sahib company under SIT scanner

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, April 5

A Special Investigating Team (SIT), headed by a DSP-level official, has been constituted by the state CID to inquire into two cases of forgery and cheating registered against the management of Indian Technomac, Paonta Sahib-based unit, and officials of various departments yesterday.

Tax evasion worth Rs 1,000 crore was detected by officials in 2014 and Rs 1,100 crore penalty was imposed on the firm, making it liable to pay Rs 2,100 crore to the Excise and Taxation Department. The unit also owes Rs 5 crore as bill to power department.

CID officials reveal that the initial probe has established the fact that the major part of the production was shown only on the paper and fake dispatch bills of goods sent to various ghost companies. This helped the management to pocket Central Excise benefit and other incentives to the tune of crores.

The working of the power board and excise has come under scanner.

Though field officials of the board are supposed to forfeit the advance consumption deposit (ACD) of a unit after the bill remains unpaid, but no such measure was undertaken to recover the Rs 1.5 crore which the unit did not pay in 2014. The ACD is equal to one month’s power bill and this is taken as security from the industrial unit.

Officials were investigating into various aspects such as whether the RTGS receipt, claimed to be deposited by the unit management to the board for paying its bill, bore the bank’s stamp or not and what documents were presented to the board in support of the RTGS.

As per norms, the power connection can be disconnected if bills remain unpaid for a sizeable period but this norm was not followed and the unit had been allowed to consume power for several months after it defaulted on Rs 1.5 crore bill. The billed amount and the penalty thus amassed to Rs 5 crore. The role of various officials, including the accounts officer, executive engineer and SDO was being probed into as the standard operating principles to recover the pending power bills had not been adopted.

Sources in the board revealed that senior officials were supposed to conduct regular meetings with field officials to monitor cases of pending power bills.

Sources in the CID said a team of officials would soon lift records pertaining to this case from various departments. Eight vehicles owned by the unit management are still being used by them though their properties have been auctioned to recover the Rs 2,100 crore dues by the Excise and Taxation Department.