Mumbai; The Income Tax department has fined the BMC Rs 200 crore for alleged non-payment of taxes deducted at source since 2006. If BMC corporators, who are members of the standing committee, are to be believed, this is due to the negligence of one accounts department officer. As per procedure, the civic body’s accounts’ department collects all BMC employees’ taxes and submits the dues to the Income tax department every year.
However, it is alleged that the accounts department has not submitted any tax money to the IT department since 2006. The IT department fined the BMC Rs 75 crore in 2006, it is pointed out. Later, in 2014, when the default persisted, the IT department notified the civic body yet again and asked it to cough up an additional Rs 111 crore as fine. MNS corporator Sandeep Deshpande, who brought this matter to light at Wednesday’s standing committee meeting, said, “We have demanded a probe into the department’s functioning.’’ The MNS stand was endorsed by both the ruling parties. Trushna Vishwasrao from Shiv Sena, caor repaired roads. If the BMC has to shell out the fine, tax payers’ money will be squandered due to one official’s mistake.”
However, when the FPJ called the accounts officer concerned, he clarified that the onus was on the Treasury Department to deposit the income tax dues, and not on his department. Meanwhile, a senior official from the treasury department has denied the allegations saying that the income tax payments have taken been on schedule since 2006. The official said, “The fine amount (Rs 200 crore) is disputed and hence the department has not cleared it. Such fines are imposed as some discrepancies arise in the documents.”
