Mangaluru: The sleuths of Central Excise and Service Tax Commissionerate, Mangalore, arrested a Mangalore-based proprietor of a major construction company, for service tax evasion of over one crore, a press release stated.
Credible sources said the arrested is Sudhakar Shetty of Mugrody Builders and Developers.
Speaking to newskarnataka.com over phone, Dr. M. Subramanyam, Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, Mangalore said that the builder was arrested on Thursday under Section 91 of the Finance Act, 1994 and produced before the Principal Civil Judge Senior Division and Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mangalore who remanded him to judicial custody. Further investigation is under progress, he said.
According to the press release issued by the department, “The Company has collected about Rs.84 lakhs of service tax from the customers but the same has not been credited to the Government exchequer”.
As the service tax collected but not paid to the exchequer for more than six months exceeded Rs.50 lakhs, the acts of omission and commission on the part of the service provider constituted an offence prescribed under Section 89(1)(d) of the Finance Act, 1994 thereby attracting imprisonment extending to seven years in terms of Section 89(1)(ii) of the said Act.
Further such offences shall be cognizable as per Section 90 of the Finance Act, the press release informed.
