KOCHI: The Indian Chamber of Commerce (Kochi chapter) on Tuesday criticised the state government for allegedly making the life miserable for traders. Alleging that the arm-twisting tactics being adopted by the government for the generation of revenue are nothing short of harassment, Sunny L Malayil, president of the chamber’s Kochi chapter, urged the government and finance minister to look into the plight of the entire trader fraternity.
“During these trying times when the economy is going through a slump and the traders are hard-pressed, the proceedings initiated to squeeze the trade further on one pretext or the other by the government is not in good taste. The latest development in the form of penal and assessment proceedings being invoked both under the GST as well as for periods under the VAT regime can be seen as nothing short of punishment for being a law-abiding assessee,” he added.
“Revenue due to the government indeed has to be collected, but the same must not be done by pushing the traders to the wall and unholy means,” he said.
The chamber also urged the government to take immediate corrective action by withdrawing the assessment proceedings based on the module-generated notices under the erstwhile VAT Act and also take steps for withdrawing notices demanding interest under the present GST Act.