Palakkad Commercial tax Assistant commissioner suspended

source VoiceofSikkim
PTI


Palakkad Commercial tax Assistant commissioner suspended
Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 29 (PTI) Kerala Government today suspended Assistant Commissioner (Commercial Taxes) Palakkad, A A Abullah for allegedly accepting advance taxes from the promoters of Sikkim paper lottery, while allowing more draws, without imposing late penalty. Announcing the suspension at a press conference here, state Finance Minister T M Thomas Issac said there was nothing wrong in accepting advance taxes to allow more draws. However, rules were clear that in case there was delay in paying advance tax by the promoter, the commissioner had to levy penalty of Rs. 1,000 per day and 10 per cent interest, he said. In this case, while allowing two more draws to the promoters of Sikkim lottery, the advance tax was collected in July and the promoter was allowed to start two more lotteries in the same month, without charging any penalty, in violation of rules. Issac also said new assistant commissioner would be posted immediately and would take steps to realise the penalty amount. The government had sent a fax to Sikkim and Bhutan governments seeking to know whether the Megha Distributors were the authorised agents of the lotteries in Kerala, he said. Congress-led UDF opposition had raised this issue in the assembly alleging corruption to a tune of Rs. 25 crore and irregularities in allowing two more draws to the lottery promoter. It had also alleged that the Megha was owned by Santiago Martin, who was close to CPI-M in the state.