GST evasion of Rs. 96.06 crore detected in Shillong
Promotions are always welcome news. Three officers of the 1989 batch have been promoted to the rank of Chief Commissioner/Director General for the panel year 2020. Further, consequent to ACC’s recent approval of empanelment in the grade of Pr. Commissioners, 39 officers of the 1991 and 1992 batches have been promoted as Pr. Commissioners for the panel year 2019 (supplementary) and panel year 2020 (regular). Hearty congratulations from the Board to each and every one of these officers for their well-deserved promotions.
At the beginning of this month, the Union Cabinet approved a new Citizen-Centric Civil Service program ‘Mission Karmayogi’: a National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB) that prescribes an Annual Capacity Building Plan for all Departments and Services. It sets benchmarks in learning for public servants while promoting technology-driven learning to radically improve Human Resource management in Government. It’s a matter of pride that NACIN is one of the select Central Training Institutes, on-boarded by DoPT, for the iGOT-Karmayogi platform that would enable the transition from rule-based to a role-based HR management. I exhort all officers associated with this project to contribute to the best of their abilities. I am confident that the content developed by our officers will be on par with the best in the online learning segment.
The week gone by also saw significant and commendable cases being booked by field formations. Congratulations to all officers and staff who participated in these operations.
DRI officers of the Cochin Zonal Unit and Calicut (Kozhikode) Regional Unit, intercepted a vehicle suspected to be carrying smuggled gold, near the Calicut International Airport. Gold in compound form weighing 4.3 Kgs, was recovered from the vehicle. During the operation, the suspect persons involved in the smuggling rammed their vehicle into two DRI personnel Shri Albert George, 10, pillion rider and Shri T S Najimudeen, rider of the motor cycle, who had flagged them down. Both the injured individuals who were hospitalised have been extended all assistance from the department and are safe. I wish both, who have exhibited exemplary courage and determination, a very speedy recovery. Five suspects have been arrested in connection with this case so far.
The officers of Commissionerate of Customs (Preventive), West Bengal, with the help of the Coast Guard, intercepted a fishing trawler attempting to cross over to Bangladesh using an unauthorised riverine route and carrying goods of Indian origin. The persons on-board the Trawler were attempting to smuggle sarees/garments concealed inside the trawler in about 400 gunny bags valued at Rs. 3.3 crore approximately.
In a coordinated operation, the Bangalore DRI Zonal Unit launched investigation on three companies based in Chandigarh that were allegedly exporting Chrome Ore and Chrome Concentrate under the guise of “Indian Refractory Mortar (IRM)”. Simultaneous operations were carried out at Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar & Kolkata by the respective Zonal units. By this misdeclaration, the exporters were evading payment of 30% Export Duty. Further, Chromium ore and Chromium concentrates are restricted for export and need to be canalized through MMTC Ltd. The total duty evaded is about Rs. 12.05 crore along with wrongly availed drawback amounting to Rs. 54.63 lakhs and MEIS scrips of Rs. 1.04 crore.
Based on data analytics, the CGST Commissionerate, Shillong, detected ineligible availment of ITC by some Units primarily engaged in supply of electrical energy during the period July 2017 to March 2020. The exercise led to recovery of Rs. 44.80 crore against the detection of GST evasion of Rs. 96.06 crore.
The use of data analytics reminds us that GSTN has now made available a very useful investigative tool that should help us in our anti-evasion and audit efforts. A webinar was also organised by GSTN on 8th September 2020 to showcase Business Intelligence and Fraud Analytics (BIFA) tools to senior officials of the CGST Zones which is designed primarily to assist officers through data analytics in network analysis, ratio analysis and thereby identify potential revenue leakages in advance. With connected Directorates and CGST Zones having access to this tool, it is expected that it would be possible to conduct a pin pointed and non-intrusive verification of noncompliant taxpayers. This would enhance the ease of doing business experience of the compliant assessees.
Friends, while we continue to do our duty in these testing times, many of us have now seen or experienced the effect of the pandemic on our colleagues and families. It is heartening to note that officers and staff have been voluntarily coming forward to render all assistance to their colleagues, retired officers and family members, even to the extent of donating plasma, an appeal for which had been made earlier. This is highly commendable and needs to be continued.
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