The Central government reported to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the direct and indirect tax departments of the Government have seized real estate or immovable property valued at more than Rs 1 lakh crore, however disposed of the assets worth Rs 71 crore.
Pankaj Chaudhary, the Minister of State for Finance revealed data showing that the Enforcement Department had succeeded in having Rs 15,600 crore worth of criminal proceeds seized. A total of Rs 15,114 crore in assets, according to the government, have been returned to public sector banks.
Further reported before the Parliament that many cases involving properties attached by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) are being litigated in court and cannot be disposed of until the court rules on the matter.
It was officially reported that a group of banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) has made Rs 7,975 crore out of this by selling assets that the ED handed over to them.
The statutes permit the CBDT and CBIC to seize property after completing the required procedures in order to retrieve taxes. The government has recently targeted benami property as well, which is equally a matter for CBDT to handle.
In a judgement, the Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC) has held that the State GST Officers are also authorized to exercise the powers to inspect, search, and seize the goods under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) Act, 2017.
Recently, the offices of several prominent politicians and commercial businesses involved in various scams have been raided by the Income Tax, ED, and GST departments.
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