Gujarat govt attaches Essar Oil’s bank a/cs

Mumbai: The Gujarat government has sealed three bank accounts of Ruias-owned Essar Oil in a bid to recover Rs 8,000 crore of dues, including interest towards deferred tax liability, after the Gujarat High court directed the state government to expedite the recovery process from the company. 

    Essar Oil, in a statement, said it is "surprised and disappointed by Gujarat government's unexpected step… despite the company clearly stating its intent to pay the sales tax due to the state". 
    According to the statement, Essar Oil has already agreed to pay Rs 1,000 crore within 30 days to the Gujarat government towards the sales tax liability.
    Essar Oil has written to the state government requesting that a committee be formed which can jointly discuss the modalities of the payment of the balance principal amount of Rs 5,169 crore and consider a remission of the past interest of Rs 1,932 crore. The request for remission of interest amount is based on the fact that the company sought the sales tax scheme benefit only after the Gujarat High Court verdict went in its favour in April 2008 and further no interest amount was mentioned in the Supreme Court order. 
    On June 25, the division bench of Justice P B Majmudar and Justice Mohinder Pal rejected the petition of Essar Oil, which had sought that the company be allowed to pay the tax dues of Rs 6,414 crore in eight yearly installments and grant it exemption from paying penalty and interest of Rs 2,000 crore on it. While dismissing the plea, the court observed that, "The petitioner should have acted as a good company and furnished the amount to the government and not defrauded the state for its commercial benefit."