Elite private schools, trusts in Jharkhand come under I-T scanner
Notices have been served to over 50 educational institutes, religious, charitable trusts and NGOs across Jharkhand which are tax-exempted under section 12(A) of the Income Tax Act.
More than 50 tax-exempted elite educational institutes, trusts and NGOs in Jharkhand, including XLRI, DAV, JEM foundation of Jusco here, have come under scrutiny for allegedly routing black money from dubious sources since demonetisation.
While XLRI claimed transparency in transactions, Motilal Nehru Public School, run by a trust Uttar Pradesh Sangh, said it has furnished the details sought by the income tax department.
“Notices have been served to over 50 educational institutes, religious, charitable trusts and NGOs across the state who are tax-exempted under section 12(A) of the Income Tax Act,” Ajay Kumar Singh, I-T deputy commissioner (exemption), Ranchi, told HT on Saturday.
The institutions have been asked to file their closing balance as on March 2016, November 8, and cash deposits since then, he said.
XLRI director Fr E Abraham told HT that they had replied to the I-T department, saying there has been no cash transaction during the said period. “Everything was cashless—either through online account transfer to banks or digital transactions,” he said.
MNPS principal Ashu Tiwari said the department, in its December 22 notice, had sought “audit reports of three years, students’ details and fee structure, and we have furnished the details”.
Other institutions were not available for comment despite several attempts to contact them.
The Jamshedpur I-T investigation wing also conducted raids on three schools—DAV, Patelnagar, Central Public School, Adityapur, and Vig School, Govindpur—run by city-based builder-banker Hare Ram Singh on December 16 and 17.
Institutions with annual receipt of over Rs 5 crore have got notices from the I-T headquarters, Ranchi, while those with less that Rs 5 crore have been issued notices by local I-T commissioner offices.
Jamshedpur I-T officer (exemption) P K Sen has issued notices to Loyola School, Sacred Heart Convent, MNPS, Kerala Public School, Kerala Samajam School, DAV School, JPS, Rajendra Vidyalaya and Sheyn International School, among others.
The I-T headquarters, Ranchi, has issued notices to city-based Kamalvati Devi Trust, which runs a dental college, and Sitaramdera-based Chitvanto Devi Charitable Trust, which runs several schools.
XISS, Cambridge School and Ashok Bhagat’s Navbharat Trust in Ranchi, Radha Govind Charitable Trust in Ramgarh, Bal Vidya Mandir in Bokaro, Bal Kalyan Charitable Trust and Samajik Kalyan Sansthan in Dhanbad and Satsang Sansthan in Deogarh have also come under its scanner.
It is estimated that private English-medium schools in Jamshedpur collect Rs 20-40 lakh every month on an average.
It is suspected that these schools were exchanging the banned currencies of dubious sources with new ones that were extracted as fee from students’ parents, income tax sources said.
NGOs and charitable trusts are suspected of taking hefty donations in scrapped notes from dubious sources and depositing them in their accounts on an understanding that it will be adjusted after a year or two.
Principal chief income tax commissioner (Bihar and Jharkhand), S T Ahmad and I-T commissioner Subrata Sarkar said about 150 such institutions have been served notices in both Bihar and Jharkhand.
