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Taxation

Aerocity project: GMADA fails to deposit advance tax

Monday, 22 November 2010 11:13 administrator
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Indian Express           22.11.2010

Aerocity project: GMADA fails to deposit advance tax

Express News Service Tags : Greater Mohali Urban Development Authority, GMADA Posted: Mon Nov 22 2010, 00:20 hrs

Chandigarh:  The survey carried out by sleuths of the Income Tax Department on the Greater Mohali Urban Development Authority (GMADA) on Thursday has revealed that the GMADA has failed to deposit timely advance tax instalments on receipts exceeding Rs 150 crore on account of interest income on deposits with banks and financial institutions of the earnest money received from the Aerocity project. The survey was carried out under the supervision of Pawan Parmar, Income Tax Commissioner IT-II, Chandigarh.

On account of the preliminary discussions, a cheque of Rs 15 crore has been handed over to the Income Tax Department by the GMADA thereby accepting an income from interest at Rs. 45 crore initially. According to sources in the Income Tax Department, it has also come to notice that “there is irregularity in proper demarcation of revenue expenditure and capital expenditure and no regular system of accounting is being followed by the authority. Several hundred crores of rupees deposited for acquisition of land for the Airport Authority of India in different financial years have not been reflected under the correct heads in their accounts”. This has resulted in gross understatement of income and booking of fictitious losses, as per the IT Department. The documents and evidences obtained during the survey action are being scrutinized for necessary action.

The team, comprising around ten officials, had taken stock of the finances, accounts, allotments and development works initiated by the GMADA since its inception in August 2006. Besides meeting GMADA senior functionaries, the IT sleuths had also gone to the offices of GMADA ACA (Finance and Accounts) Rajesh Sodhi, Advisor Projects KK Kaul, ACA (Headquarter) Balwinder Singh Multani and Chief Engineer Rajiv Moudgil.

Last Updated on Monday, 22 November 2010 11:16
 

PMC to push for hike in development charges

Saturday, 20 November 2010 09:42 administrator
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The Times of India               20.11.2010

PMC to push for hike in development charges

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) wants city builders to shell out more by way of development charges to improve the city's infrastructure.

On Friday, the PMC's standing committee debated a hike in development charges and decided to seek the state government's permission to impose a hike.

"The construction industry has witnessed a boom in the last few years," standing committee member and leader of the house Nilesh Nikam told reporters. "As of now, builders pay meagre development charges Rs 6 per sq ft for residential constructions and Rs 12 per sq ft for commercial constructions. These have been the rates since 1997 but things have changed a great deal and development charges must be hiked," he added.

The PMC has received about Rs 250 crore as development charges, till November this year. "There is limit to how much the premium charges (collected from builders against the floor space index for balconies, staircases, elevators, machine rooms and internal roads) can be hiked and so we have decided to meet the chief minister and demand a hike in development charges," said standing committee chairman Arvind Shinde.

Other members said that though the PMC puts in crores of rupees every year to develop infrastructure including roads, gardens and new water and sewage treatment plants, it just gets Rs 6 a sq ft as developmental charges; whereas builders get rates ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,500 and above per sq ft.
Nikam said that the amount of hike would be decided on once the state government gives its permission.

The builder community has already expressed it opposition to the idea. They argue that they have to pay separate charges/fees for legal and development plan opinions; no objection certificates from the water and tax departments; zoning demarcation certificates and urban land ceiling ratification. Upon completion of a project, the builder pays towards road-cutting charges, tree deposit, fire premium, water line development charges and drainage department fees.
Union minister Sharad Pawar has also strongly advocated the need for municipal corporations and local self-governing bodies in Maharashtra to hike development charges for new projects like mega residential complexes and townships.

 

GMADA submits Rs 15 crore as tax liabilities

Saturday, 20 November 2010 09:29 administrator
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The Times of India             20.11.2010

GMADA submits Rs 15 crore as tax liabilities

CHANDIGARH: Greater Mohali Area Development authority surrendered Rs 15 crore as tax liabilities on the interest of Rs 45 crore earned from the subscription amount for Aerocity plots on Friday. Tax officials had conducted a survey at the authority's office on Friday.

"Brief investigations suggested that GMADA failed to pay advance tax on receipts of Rs 150 crore as interest on instalments and earnest money from applicants," said a spokesperson of the income tax department. The day-long survey at the GMADA office, conducted by the team headed by joint commissioner of income tax, Mohali range, also exposed serious anomalies in maintenance of accounts related to the Aerocity project.

"There is irregularity in proper demarcation of revenue expenditure and capital expenditure and no regular system of accounting is being followed by the authority. Several hundred crores of rupees deposited for acquisition of land for Airport Authority of India in different financial years have not been reflected under the correct heads in their accounts," a news release from the office of commissioner of income tax (CIT-II) Pawan Parmar Singh said.

"This has resulted in gross understatement of income and reporting of fictitious losses. The documents and evidence obtained during the survey are being scrutinized for necessary action,'"said Singh. GMADA had recently sought subscription for the allotment of 3,900 residential plots measuring between 125 to 500 square yards at Rs 12,000 per sq yard in Aerocity, a township carved out on 800 acres.

As many as 2,96,322 applicants had subscribed to the scheme resulting in receipt of several crores of rupees. The survey was carried out under Section 133 B of the Income Tax Act.


 
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