Land compensation under IT scanner

DEHRADUN: Suspecting multi-crore irregularities in TDS deductions while awarding land compensation, the Income Tax (I-T) department has sought details of payments and individuals from District Land Acquisition officers of all the 13 districts, of last four years. Additional commissioner of I-T, TDS division, Amandeep Kaur, has recently written to district land acquisition officers.Information about the recipients has been sought in a particular format such as name and address of beneficiaries, the amount paid and date of disbursal.
What makes this development significant is the fact that huge land compensation has been awarded to individuals whose land was acquired for big ticket projects like Char Dham road construction and the NH 74 land scam in which compensation running to several crore was paid to individuals. Details of TDS deductions by the district administration at the time of awarding compensation would open a Pandora’s box as the SIT probe has established payments of compensation of over Rs 211 crores to scores of individuals between 2011 and 2016 for NH 74. According to I-T rules, Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) is mandatory for all payments by government and private agencies. I-T officials said that recipients of the compensation related to the NH 74 and the Char Dham road construction in lieu of land may come under scanner.
Principal chief commissioner, I-T, Uttarakhand, PK Gupta said, “Our department has apprised the state about our concerns in TDS irregularity. We are also looking at TDS deductions linked with land compensation.”