Telecom society served notice for evading stamp duty

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Bangalore: The Telecom Employees Housing Board Co-operative Society has been served a notice by the district registrar (DR), Gandhinagar. TOI had reported in its October 9 edition that the said society had evaded Rs 80 crore in stamp duty.

The notice was issued after the DRs received a circular from the inspector general of registration and commissioner of stamps (IGR) directing them to conduct inquiries into house building cooperative societies (HBCSs). According to the notice issued to Telecom Employees’ HBCS, the registrar has sought all relevant documents from the society, like memoranda of understanding with builders, board resolutions and so on.

Official sources, however, said the society has made it clear that it’s unable to submit the documents as they have been seized by the income-tax department, which is probing the irregularities. “We have decided to borrow the documents from the department directly, as it will save us time. Inquiry is on and we will have to probe the nature of evasion,” an official explained.

The IGR’s circular was based on a complaint lodged by Ganesh S Koundinya, who has been fighting against the irregularities committed by HBCSs. Also, following his complaint and evidence produced, the income-tax department began a probe into HBCSs.

THREAT CALLS MADE TO WHISTLEBLOWER

Ganesh Koundinya, the complainant, received threat calls from unknown sources, suspected to be from the HBCS fraternity and has complained about the same to the IGR. Acting on it, Adoni Syed Saleem, the IGR, sought police protection for Ganesh. In a letter to the police commissioner, Saleem said Ganesh had complained about stamp duty evasion pertaining to Telecom Employees’ HBCS and others while registering 96 documents.

Currently, complaints are being registered in Gandhinagar and Basavanagudi DR offices and action taken to recover the stamp duty, the letter said.