LUCKNOW, Feb 4: A street vendor of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, who earns
a living by selling garments on the streets, was raided by GST inspectors for
a purported evasion of tax on Rs 366 cr income last week. He earns Rs 500 a
day by vending clothes.
If the GST officers know well that some fraudsters use other people's GST numbers
and if there is no concrete proof of the vendor evading tax, especially as the
amount of tax allegedly being evaded is so staggering to be tagged to the poor
guy, why should there be a raid on the street vendor's home in the first place?
A shocked Ejaz Ahmad had to leave his bread and butter for several days to
run from pillar to post asking who could help him (in fact, nobody knows) out
of this Government of India conundrum! Who will pay his family's food bill?
What will compensate for his agony? Who is responsible? Certainly not the GST
officials.
Ahmad had a GST registration for a small scrap yard a couple of years ago where
he dealt with scrap worth Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 a day. It is said he folded up
as he incurred losses and began vending clothes on the streets.
Senior GST officers conducted the raid on the vendor’s home last month-end.
Joint commissioner (special investigation branch) of the GST department in
west UP, JS Shukla, said, "Bills worth over Rs 300 crore has been issued. It
seems to be a huge racket. A thorough probe is being conducted. Several firms
and some individuals are under the scanner," Times of India reported.
Meanwhile, there are widespread complaints that fraudsters misuse others' GST
numbers to evade tax. "A few people are claiming that their firms' GST numbers
are misused by others," GST officials themselves say.
