The Income Tax (I-T) Department has sought details of all bills cleared by six State government departments after their intelligence reports “indicated” that these payments were meant to be used for “election purposes”.
In a letter to Chief Secretary K. Ratna Prabha, the Director-General of Income Tax (Investigation) for Karnataka and Goa, B.R. Balakrishnan, has said that “intelligence received” by them indicated that several big payments had been made to contractors of some departments during the last quarter of the financial year 2017–18. This, said the letter, was to be used for election purposes.
They have requested for details of all payments of more than ₹25 lakh and the associated TDS (Tax Deductible at Source) released to contractors between January 1 and March 31, 2018. The I-T Department has sought details from the departments of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Revenue, Energy, Public Works, and Water Resources.
“It is also requested that details of all the payments made to same contractors during the F.Y. (financial year) 2016–17 may also be furnished to this office ... Kindly treat this as most urgent and important,” states the letter, a copy of which is with The Hindu .
The letter was received by Ms. Prabha’s office on Friday.
“We have instructed all departments to send the information requested by the I-T Department by Tuesday,” she said.
