ONGC, RIL slapped with recovery notices

The Choryasi taluka development officer in Surat has slapped notices to several corporate houses situated in Hazira belt, including Reliance, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), over their failure to pay various taxes.

"We have slapped notices under section 152 of Land Revenue Code, on Reliance, ONGC, L&T, NTPC, Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Gujarat Housing Board (GHB) and others, a fortnight back directing them to pay the outstanding panchayat tax and land revenue," P J Patel, taluka development officer, Choryasi, said.

"The outstanding taxes of Reliance are Rs 66.02 lakh, NTPC (Rs 46.33 lakh) and L&T (Rs 25.25 lakh). With outstanding dues of Rs 1.42 crore, ONGC tops the list. GIDC has to pay over Rs 68 lakh as taxes, while GHB owes Rs 2.78 lakh to us," he informed.

"We had issued notices to these corporates and corporations earlier but there was no response, which has forced us to issue fresh notices," he said.

If the amount is not paid before the end of February, we would impose 25 per cent penalty on the outstanding. We would not hesitate to initiate strict legal steps, such as confiscating and auctioning properties against the defaulters," he said.

Sources said that the government has recently directed the concerned officials in all districts to concentrate on recovery of outstanding dues and intensify drive against defaulters.

Official sources said that similar notices were also issued to Essar and Kribhco, but both the companies have now cleared their dues. Other companies facing the recovery notice are Colour Tex (Rs 6.05 lakh), and Mulla Dyeing & Printing Mill, having an outstanding of Rs 1.42 lakh.