MADURAI: In a major bust by corporation officials, it was found that the misuse of several bill collectors’ digital login credentials has helped over 100 tax defaulters evade payment of over Rs 1 crore. Madurai Corporation Commissioner Dinesh Kumar has suspended as many as five bill collectors. A service notice under the Tamil Nadu Civil Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, Section 17e, has also been issued to 13 bill collectors.
The corporation uses the Urban Tree Information System (UTIS) digital platform for tax collection. As per the findings of an inquiry team, the erring employees misused the UTIS application to aid tax defaulters. The issue came to light when the periodical review meeting on tax defaulters was conducted by the corporation recently.
Speaking to TNIE, Dinesh Kumar said, “The corporation has been taking strict measures to collect taxes. Madurai has secured third place in the state with regard to tax collection. We conduct periodical review meetings to discuss the top 100 tax defaulters. During one such meeting, we noticed that some company names that were in the top 100 list in earlier reports suddenly disappeared. When we checked the tax database, it was found that their taxes were intentionally scaled down and they escaped featuring in the list by paying just a minimal amount.”
Subsequently, a special team was constituted and tasked with combing the tax defaulters’ database and recent payments. Over 100 entities were found to have paid reduced taxes after around 18 bill collectors colluded with them and slashed their tax amounts in the UTIS system.
“Five bill collectors took up major reduction of taxes, while 13 others did fraud with merger amounts. A total of over `1 crore in taxes was reduced by these staff. However, we have corrected the numbers in the database now. Five bill collectors have been suspended and the remaining 13 served notices,” Kumar said.
When asked about further action in the case, the corporation commissioner said that based on the findings of a further inquiry, criminal charges would be invoked against the guilty persons. They have also initiated work to collect the full tax from defaulters.