Yediyurappa directs action against transport companies involved in illegal transport of goods

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday asked officials to initiate strict action against transport companies involved in misuse of the e-way bills and other illegal activities, by imposing fines, after inspection.

He was speaking in a meeting with Commercial Tax officers and reviewed the status of tax collection in the State, his office said in a release.

The Chief Minister had directed the officials during the meeting held last month, to take stringent action against use of duplicate e-way bills, misuse of the provided time limit for transport of goods.

Noting that accordingly the number of road vigilance teams has been increased from 77 to 116, the release quoting officials said, these teams have inspected 2.89 lakh transport vehicles and 7.46 lakh e-way bills and out of this 300 unlawful cases have been found and Rs 6.21 crore of tax and fine collected.

In the electronic way (E-way) bill system, businesses and transporters have to produce before a Goods and Services Tax (GST) inspector e-way bill for moving goods worth over Rs 50,000 from one state to another. Yediyurappa also directed officials to hold a survey of dealers doing transactions worth more than Rs 40 lakh and survey of commercial complexes in big cities which collect monthly rent of more than Rs 20 lakh.

The officers also informed that Rs 4,313.13 crore has been released by the Central government as GST compensation amount from December to February in the year 2019-20, adding that there is an increase in the collection of taxes on petrol and diesel in the state.