Amarinder Singh warns tax officials against issuing undue tax assessments

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on January 31 warned of strict action against any official of the excise and taxation department issuing undue tax assessment notices to industry.

The directions came after a delegation of the Punjab Pradesh Veopar Mandal met him at Chandigarh, as per an official release.

The chief minister asked the Excise and Taxation Commissioner to ensure that no such notices are issued by the department.

He also directed the tax department to post on its portal the list of all notices issued with prior approval of the competent authority so that any discrepancy can be rectified.

He asked the finance minister to hold a meeting soon with the delegation to elicit their views before finalising the state budget for 2019-20.

Assuring the delegation of full government support and cooperation in all respects, Singh also asked the department to further expedite the process of pending VAT and GST refunds to industry.

On the request of the delegation to settle all pending tax assessment cases by introducing deemed assessment, he asked the department to examine the proposal for its feasibility.

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On the demand to enhance exemption limit for generating electronic way bill, the chief minister said he would take up the issue with the GST Council.

Regarding the issue of oil feed being included within the purview of the State Cattlefeed Act, Singh asked the department to immediately examine the proposal.

He also asked his Special Principal Secretary to look into the issue of inflated power bills in excess of Rs 5 per unit, which was brought to his notice by the delegation.

During the meeting, members requested the chief minister for revival of district traders boards across the state, besides setting up of a dedicated steel yard in Amritsar.

The demand for establishing a focal point at Sirhind and introduction of insurance scheme for small traders was also raised. Some members also urged the chief minister to create a state ground water authority for smooth resolution of industry's water-related issues. 

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