Set up authority to plug tax evasion: Patil

Bangalore, Aug 5: Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council H K Patil has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to set up a permanent authority to suggest measures and steps for effective assessment and recovery of taxes from high profile corporates in telecommunication sector.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, a copy of which was released to the media here today, Mr Patil said such authority should be headed by a Supreme Court Judge along with technical experts both in taxation and in the field of advance technology.

Mr Patil appealed to Dr Singh to constitute a judicial commission to inquire into the lapses in collection and non payment of tax by high profile corporates.

"There was rampant tax evasion to the tune of crore of rupees by some high profile corporates in telecom sectors, particularly in Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) networks, causing heavy losses to the state revenue earnings," he said.

''This pertains to taxation of Artificially Created Light Energy as 'goods' which is being generated by OFC network owners and is used by IT companies for the purpose of transmitting their data-information from their place to the desired destinations,'' Mr Patil pointed out.

UNI