Notably,
as the sellers are refusing to register themselves, no goods
are entering Punjab for the past one week. The store owners
have given a bandh call for April 22, while the sales tax
officials have categorically said that trucks would be
released once they pay 4 per cent VAT.
Deputy
Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Ludhiana, Parampal Singh
said, "VAT will have to be paid from April 1, 2005,
onwards because this item was included when the tax was
enforced."
In
Ludhiana alone, more than 1,000 garment sellers have been
affected. However, some of them argue that there is no VAT on
embroidered clothes. Uttam Singh, owner of Nilibar store,
said, "The department is misinterpreting VAT. We have all
details and documents with us, saying that VAT is not
applicable on embroidered cloth. We will take up this matter
with the authorities as well."
Meanwhile,
Sanjay Arora, owner Kalamandir store, has also received
notices from the department. Interestingly, for the past six
months, the department has been trying to tell the store
owners to register themselves and finally the trucks were
stopped at entry points in Punjab when they refused to do so.
The
owners held a meeting late today evening to discuss the plan
of action.
So
