The Hindu : Bid to check graft in ST dept.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 25, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Bid to check graft in ST dept.

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM July 24. The source of assets earned by officials of the State Sales Tax Department who have worked for 10 years at any checkpost will be probed. Moreover, strict vigil will be maintained at all checkposts on the State border to prevent evasion of sales tax, said K.Sankaranarayanan, Minister for Finance.

Announcing this in the State Assembly during question hour today, he said corruption had become rampant at the sales tax checkposts. The Minister said inspectors, clerks and peons deputed to sales tax checkposts would be shifted every three months. It would be ensured that passengers of vehicles were not unnecessarily detained at the checkposts under cover of checking by sales tax personnel, he said in reply to another question.

Over 10,000 cases pertaining to sales tax issues were pending before the High Court. Some of them had been filed as early as 1989. There has been a depletion in the sandalwood wealth in the forests of the State. Nearly 4,000 sandal trees have been found to be missing from the Marayur forests alone in the past five years. As per a census conducted in October 2001, there were 61,526 sandal trees in the Kerala forests, said K.Sudhakaran, Minister for Forests.

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