CCTVs at border entry points to check evasion of VAT

In a significant move which is bound to put a cap on undeclared value added tax on goods purchased from outside Delhi, the AAP government has put up CCTV cameras at entry points of border areas and integrated them with a software which allows all the tax officers to keep an effective tab on all such vehicles entering the national capital. The VAT department has reportedly issued 4,000 notices since June 1 to owners of the vehicle that entered the city without making prior declaration about the nature of goods and the dealer who was responsible for sending them.

The CCTV cameras first captures the visuals of the number plate of the vehicles. Through the visuals of the number plate, the vehicles are categorised into goods and non-goods category. The tax department, through its software, first checks from its data base whether the goods vehicle has filled up Delhi Saral-2 (DS-2) form, which gives details about the type of goods which are entering the city and details of the dealer who is sending them and the person to whom these are to be delivered. If the tax department is not able to track these details, the vehicle number is then fed into the NIC data base to get details about the vehicle owner for further investigations.

As a pilot project, the government has installed CCTV cameras at eight entry points — Kondli, Rajokri, Tikri, NH 10, Kalandikunj and two points each in Shahdara and Ghazipur. The department had proposed to put up these cameras at nine points, but it was not able to get requisite permission for installing the facility at Faridabad entry point. In all, there are 126 entry points in the city.

A highly-placed source said that about 350 goods vehicles, that have not filled up DS-2 forms, are entering the city every day. The integration of the system is such that all officers, including VAT commissioner S.S. Yadav, himself keeps an effective track on entry of such vehicles into the city.

Asked what action is taken against those who enter the city without submitting DS-2 forms, a senior VAT officer said that notices are immediately sent to such defaulters. The defaulters have to pay Rs 50,000 penalty and 20 per cent of the total value of the goods which they send to the city.

A notice to one such defaulter said: “Whereas, as per the government’s notification No F 7 (433)/Policy-II/VAT/2012/PF/70712 dated 10-09-2015, all the registered dealers of Delhi bringing goods into Delhi, are required to fill the details of invoices and goods receipts (GR Notes) online, in Form DS-2 before the physical entry of goods into Delhi.”

The drivers of the goods vehicles are bound to show the hard copy of the DS-2 form to the tax officials at the check-post. The notice said: “It was detected that your vehicle No. HR 38T6774 entered Dali at Kalindi Kunj border on June 1 at 3.25 pm without filling of form DS 2 by the respective recipient dealer as required vide the aforesaid notification . You are again reminded that the non-submission of the above said information will make you liable for penalty under Section 86 (14) of DVAT ACT 2004.