CBEC books cases against Shiv Vani and sub-contractors of L&T

NEW DELHI: Tax authorities today said it has booked cases against various infrastructure related companies including Shiv Vani Oil Ltd and and Gas Exploration Services and various sub-contractors of L&T involving service tax evasion of about Rs 300 crore.

On the basis of a specific information, officers of the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI), have recently booked a case of service tax evasion against Shiv Vani Oil and Gas Exploration Services, Central Board of Excise and Customs ( CBEC) said in a statement.

The Delhi-based company engaged in the business of providing services related to exploration and exploitation of Oil and Gas and their main clients are ONGC and Oil India Ltd admitted that due to financial constraints, they had not deposited service tax.

The estimated evasion of service tax is more than Rs 200 crore, it said.

Acting on a specific intelligence by the officers of DGCEI, searches were conducted on at various places including Construction division of Larsen & Toubro at Chennai and premises of its sub- contractor group companies namely Chitra Builders Pvt Ltd (CBPL) Kolkata and Coastal Infratech Pvt. Ltd (CPIL).

Besides, search were also conducted at Pratik International Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (PIIPL), Kolkata, Coastal Infra (CI), Coimbatore, Pratik Associates(PA), Bhuvneshwar and Chitra Construction Company (CCC), situated at Chennai, Coimbatore and Kolkata, it added.

The statement said, total evasion of service tax by the sub-contractors of L&T is estimated to be around Rs 100 crore.

The intelligence indicated that several contractors are empanelled with L&T Construction (ECC division), Chennai who receive 'work orders" for different projects of the company by way of sub-contracting, it said.

It further indicated that the sub-contractors are indulging in the evasion of service tax as they are receiving the applicable amount of service tax form L&T, but are not depositing the same with the government account properly.

The sub-contractor companies are also not filing ST-3 returns in a regular manner, it said, adding, most of the sub-contractor companies are manipulating the details of work orders and job contract values and amount of service tax amount in their records.