Chemist made to pay 3 lakh
BANGALORE: A 31-year-old techie working with a multinational corporation got an unregistered chemist in Banashankari to cough up a Rs 3-lakh fine to the commercial taxes department. All through a Rs 10 Right to Information application form.
Amit Deshpande stumbled upon the racket after he saw that the bills, given to a family member who purchased medicines from the chemist, didn't have a Taxpayers' Identification Number (TIN). There were even Scheduled H drugs given without a doctor's prescription . Drugs which cannot be sold over the counter were freely available.
"In October 2011, I wrote a letter to the proprietor questioning him about these things, but he never responded. I filed an RTI application with the commissioner of commercial taxes to find out whether he was a registered dealer. Based on that, commercial tax officers conducted an inspection of the chemist's shop and found he was an unregistered dealer," Amit told TOI.
Amit recently got a 'Thank You' letter from the office of additional commissioner of commercial taxes (enforcement) for being a whistleblower.
"During out inspection, we noticed that the chemist was not registered. All purchase bills for 2009-10 , 2010-11 and 2011-12 have been taken. The dealer has accepted the discrepancies and agreed to discharge the tax liability. The total tax liability is Rs 3 lakh," said MS Sathyaprakash , assistant commissioner of commercial taxes, south zone, Bangalore.
The dealer paid the tax due and was also made to procure a Value Added Tax Registration Certificate.
