THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition on Friday staged a walkout in the assembly over the denial of permission to seek leave for an adjournment motion to discuss the issuance of Value Added Tax (VAT) arrear notices to traders.
V D Satheesan of the Congress said as many as 52,000 erroneous VAT arrear notices pertaining to the 2013-14 assessment year were sent to traders across the state. While the notice issued to a trader in Changanassery pointed out purchase suppression to the tune of a whopping Rs 25,ooo crore, the sales suppression in the notice to another trader was a meagre Rs 1.30.
Alleging massive discrepancies in the notices, Satheesan said the government has carried out ‘carpet bombing’ on traders through this action.
Terming the issuance of erroneous VAT arrears notices as unfortunate, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac said the government would examine why such notices were sent without proper scrutiny by tax department officials.
Resolution on lifting traffic curbs on NH766 passed
T’Puram: The assembly on Friday passed a unanimous resolution calling for the revocation of the decision to ban night traffic along National Highway 766 which connects the state with Karnataka through the Bandipur forest. The resolution, introduced by Transport Minister A K Saseendran, urged the Centre to fulfil its promise that an expert committee would be appointed to examine Kerala’s suggestions on the issue. It noted that restrictions imposed on traffic through Bandipur forest area along NH 766 were unprecedented in any tiger reserve in the country.