Excise dept. raids two five star hotels

| 13 November 1996 12:16 IST

Two five star hotels in South Goa have been partially sealed by the state excise and sales tax authorities for waiving over Rs one crore of sales tax and luxury tax.

The Old Anchor run by Dalmia Resorts at Cavelossim and the Goa Penta owned by Hospitality Resorts Pvt Ltd at Utorda, both off district town of Margao, were raided by the state excise authorities yesterday.

The action was taken as both the hotel owners did not respond to series of notices sent by the department, said state excise commissioner J B Singh. The attachment of properties including the restaurant, rooms and some assets continued till today evening.

While the total amount of defaults of Dalmia Resorts is around Rs 1.54 crore, Singh said Rs 1.04 crore towards monthly sales tax and luxury tax had not been paid from 1993 to 1995. Similarly, Goa Penta owned by Rajan Chabra have not paid Rs 37 lakh of sales tax and luxury tax since 1992 while the additional estimated amount till date is Rs 33 lakh, he said.

Though no other star hotel will follow the suit, Singh said many hotels are in habit of paying the tax amount collected from the customers only after serving legal notices on them as per the provisions of the Goa Sales Tax Act.

Around Rs 205 crores is collected every year by the department from hotels, restaurants and liquor establishments in the state. However, around Rs 12 crore is still pending, he added.

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