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Journalism of Courage
The government has taken notice of an alleged sales tax evasion by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and has brought the matter to the notice of the government of Maharashtra.
Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Mani Shankar Aiyar said IOC had complained to the government in November 2004 about RIL transporting diesel from the Jamnagar refinery to their retailing outlets in Nagpur without any tax implications.
Aiyar’s reply states that, ‘‘From these retail outlets, diesel is supplied to vehicles operating under Reliance Logistics Ltd (RLL), a sister concern of RIL, for transportation purpose. This supply is not shown as sales but as internal consumption by the vehicles operating under RLL. Thus, no sales tax is paid on such sales and, therefore, the vehicles operating under RLL get diesel at relatively lower rates.’’
However, Aiyar also added that, ‘‘According to IOC, the aforesaid arrangement of supply to vehicles operating under RLL is allegedly being misused as even transporters not operating under RLL have been able to get their tanks filled from RIL’s outlets without paying sales tax.’’
Since the issue relates to alleged evasion of sales tax, Aiyar’s reply concluded, the matter has been brought to the notice of the Maharashtra government for appropriate action.
