Rs 135 crore tax demand from a bureaucrat couple dwarfs tax paid by businessmen

Tinoo mistakenly declared as "Proud Daughter of MP"

THIS is the heftiest tax demand from a bureaucrat couple ever. With the Income-Tax department demanding Rs 135 crore as tax from suspended 1979 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS couple, Arvind Joshi and Tinoo Joshi --- questions have been raised about the flaws in the systems which allow powerful babus amass wealth much beyond their known sources of income. If the salary of the highest paid bureaucrat in the country, the cabinet secretary, is Rs 90,000 per month, how can someone’s properties be valued at Rs 300 crore. According to the assessment of the Income-Tax department, the Joshi couple owns assets over Rs 280 crore.

“It’s monstrous fiction,” one newspaper quoted Arvind Joshi while commenting on IT-department’s earlier appraisal report. The current tax demand could be challenged in the court. But what made the high profile IAS couple defenceless was the recovery of whopping Rs 3.1 crore in cash and jewellery in February 2010 forcing Madhya Pradesh government suspending both of them. The Enforcement Directorate later attached properties including cash worth over Rs 6 crore from the Joshi family which was confirmed by the Appellate Authority of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

According to reports, the I-T department found tax evasion of over Rs 900 crore in Madhya Pradesh alone for the assessment year of 2009-10.
Only a few months ago, Tinoo Joshi's photograph found a place in many hoardings on the streets of Bhopal as state government identified a few women public figures as "Proud daughters of MP". The mistake was spotted and hoardings were pulled down. Joshi's photo was mistakenly printed in place of Nirmala Buch.

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Action and Appointments

a) The ACC has approved the extension of service of Prof Samir K Brahmachari, secretary, department of scientific and industrial research and Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for a period of two years beyond December 31, 2011.

b) PK Chaudhary, a 1977 batch Haryana cadre IAS and secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion, will hold the additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of textiles for a period of three months with effect from the date of retirement of Rita Menon, a 1975 batch UP cadre IAS. Ms Menon is now heading the ITPO.

c) 50 senior Gujarat cadre IAS officers are likely to be election observers in the five poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa during January-March. Gujarat has about 150 IAS officers serving in the state.