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Vinobha Society cheats IT department
Two former chairmen of the Bhoodan Board and three of its employees who formed Vinobha Nagar Development Society (VDS) have not only grabbed 100 acres of Bhoodan land in Ibrahimpatnam but also cheated the Income-Tax department.
​Hyderabad: Two former chairmen of the Bhoodan Board and three of its employees who formed Vinobha Nagar Development Society (VDS) have not only grabbed 100 acres of Bhoodan land in Ibrahimpatnam but also cheated the Income-Tax department.
The report of the committee headed by S K Sinha said the VDS sought I-T exemption under Section 80G. The director of Income-Tax (Exemptions) granted approval on July 24, 2008 for a period between April 1, 2007 and March 31, 2011 subject to certain conditions.
The conditions include that receipts issued to the donors should bear the number and date of the exemption order, society shall submit the statement of income and expenditure, request for renewals should be made within three months from the expiry of the exemption period and the conditions mentioned in sub-section 5 of Section 80G of I-T Act shall be fulfilled for seeking exemption.
The Director of Income=Tax (exemptions) issued another order on July 24, 2008 approving the request of VDS as a trust. Taking advantage of this, VDS appears to have resorted to financial irregularities.
The report of S K Sinha states that annual account statement submitted by the society to the Registrar of Assurances would reveal that a lot of donation has been collected by the society and the money has been raised in different manner which are not in tune with the amended aims and objectives of the society.
It may be recalled Sinha in his first report on VDS clearly stated that former Bhoodan Board chairmen C V Chary and G Rajender Reddy colluded with some other employees of the Board and also with the revenue authorities and alienated Bhoodan land in gross violations of the laws of the land and made huge money out of the land deals. It appears the money made out of land deals might have been shown as donations to get income-tax exemptions. Hence, Sinha recommended a thorough inquiry into the affairs of VDS since its inception in 1978.
He also suggested that the matter be referred to investigation wing of the Income-Tax department for thorough probe besides initiating action to withdraw the tax exemption and take further appropriate actions.
The society is expected to submit its reports to Registrar of Assurances. The last time the society had submitted the documents to Registrar of Assurances was on September 9, 2009. Hence, he recommended that non-submission of documents after this date should be examined.
On the whole, Sinha recommended that a case be registered with the Crime Investigation Department (CID) against Chary, Rajender Reddy and three other employees of Bhoodan Board - V Krishnamurthy, B Damodar and B Hima Shailaja – since all of them were part of VDS in one or the other capacity and the fraud committed by them was very clear.
By: V Ramu Sarma & Naresh Sankepally
