By IANS
Bhopal : As many as 13 Madhya Pradesh ministers have been found guilty of not filing their income tax returns on time or at the proper office. They have been asked to file the returns within 15 days, an official said Thursday.
“The income tax department has been receiving complaints that several ministers were not filing their returns properly. On investigation, 13 were found to be wanting on this front and all have been issued notices by the Assistant Commissioner (Income Tax), Madhya Pradesh Circle, Vijay Soni,” an IT official told IANS Thursday.
The ministers have also been asked to show papers on tax returns for the past six years and also their permanent account number, he said.
“While six of the 13 ministers issued notices have not filed their returns at all, the remaining seven filed the papers at the IT offices near their respective assembly segments though the rules envisage that after becoming minister they should have filed their returns in the state capital,” Soni added.
Admitting that the notices had been sent, income tax department spokesperson Sanjay Agarwal said: “There is nothing new in this. It is a routine process.”
Those issued notices Wednesday include Cooperatives Minister Gopal Bhargawa, Social Justice Minister Kusum Mehdele, Revenue Minister Kamal Patel, Culture Minister Laxmikant Sharma, Public Health Engineering Minister Choudhary Chandrabhan Singh, Animal Husbandry Minister Ramakant Tiwari, Health Minister Ajay Vishnoi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra, Industries Minister Jayant Malaiya, SC & ST Welfare Minister Vijay Shah, Technical Education Minister Nagendra Singh, Minister of State for Tourism Tukoji Rao Pawar and Minister of State for Revenue Narayan Singh Kushwaha.
Of these, the first six have not filed their returns at all, while the other seven have not filed them at the proper place.
Some of the ministers contacted by IANS said they were yet to receive the notices.