Income Tax Department conducts Raids at Two Tehsil Offices

The Income Tax Department raided two tehsil offices in the city on Friday. The “search and survey” operation began early in the morning at the offices in Kadipur and Harsaru and was still going on when the report was submitted late in the evening.

The search by the intelligence and criminal investigation wing was necessary since the two offices had not sent any information on registers to the I-T department for the last five years, according to authorities.

All registers valued more than Rs.30 lakh must be reported to the I-T department, according to the laws. In such circumstances, the tehsil office’s revenue department must furnish the names, PAN, and Aadhaar card numbers of the purchasers and sellers. The information technology department, according to authorities, need the details for further investigation and surveying.

“The disruption in information sharing on registries had hampered our work. That is why the searches are being carried out,” explained an I-T officer.

Previously, revenue department officers were investigated for their involvement in illegal activities.

The anti-corruption agency detained a tehsildar on April 6 for allegedly taking a payment of Rs.40 lakh in exchange for authorising unauthorised colonies.

The tehsildar, who also oversaw the Manesar office, was also accused of misrepresenting industrial plots as agricultural property when completing registers. Because of the disparity in circular rates between the two types of plots, the state exchequer suffered a significant loss.

On April 19, a revenue department sales deed writer in Sohna was caught while taking a bribe of Rs 60,000. According to authorities, the accused was taking the money on behalf of the nayab tehsildar.

The Haryana government prohibited all registrations on July 22, last year, when it was discovered that a number of unlawful registries had been carried out during the initial shutdown by local tehsildars in collusion with property sellers.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar suspended seven current and retired tehsildars, who were later arrested for breaching Section 7 of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975.

An inquiry found that around 1,200 land registrations were carried out without notifying the town and country planning department or obtaining a no-objection certificate from it.

According to the guidelines, registration of sale deeds for parcels comprising less than half an acre requires clearance from the DTCP.