Hyderabad: Income-tax sleuths swoop down on private medical, engineering colleges ac

TNN

Hyderabad/ Visakhapatnam, 26 July 2013 : Income-tax sleuths on Thursday launched a massive crackdown on private medical and engineering colleges across Andhra Pradesh in the wake of allegations that they were selling management

quote seats at princely rates of anywhere between Rs 45 lakh and Rs 1.2 crore.

 

 

Sources from the department confirmed that several crores were seized from these institutions during the day-long search operation that is likely to go on through the weekend.

The list of colleges that came under the I-T scanner on Day 1 includes GSL Medical College (Rajahmundry), Chalmeda Anand Rao Medical College (Karimnagar), Santhiram Medical College (Nandyal), NRI Institute of Medical Sciences (Visakhapatnam) and Konaseema Medical College (Amalapuram).

The total money recovered, by the end of the operation, is expected to run into hundreds of crores, officials indicated as searches were also conducted at Godavari Institute of Engineering and Technology and other colleges belonging to the Chaitanya group across Rajahmundry, Kakinada and Vizag.

Apart from college premises, I-T sleuths simultaneously swooped down even on the residences of some senior officials associated with these institutions. "In fact, we seized around Rs 10 crore from the Chalmeda Anand Rao Medical College chairman’s house in Hyderabad alone," said an official part of the search team that began its operations at 7 am on Thursday.

The residence of one of the members of the NRI Institute management at Ocean View layout on the posh beach road in Vizag too was searched.

Apart from cash, bundles of important documents were also seized by the search team, led by IRS officers P Satya Prashant, deputy director of I-T and B V Rao, additional director of I-T (both from the Investigation wing), which is in the process of analyzing the same.

When contacted, tax officials confirmed the statewide operation was launched following credible information about these colleges stashing huge amounts of donation/capitation fee collected for MBBS, PG medical and engineering seats.

"In fact, a few colleges were found selling their management seats for more than the declared amount. If the going rate of a seat is between Rs 50 and 80 lakh, these colleges are charging up to Rs 1 crore for it. Worse, PG medical seats are being sold for as high as Rs 80 lakh to Rs 2.5 crore depending on the specialization," an I-T official, on condition of anonymity, said adding that radiology was the most preferred PG course, especially in Hyderabad-based medical colleges.

Protests rock JNTU

"Private medical colleges are generally owned by registered trusts and get 100% tax exemption. So while they do not pay any tax on their earnings, they collect crores of rupees as fee from students," said a senior I-T official. "As there was fear of backlash from college managements, the raiding team were accompanied by armed policemen. Except for few stray incidents, the raids have been peaceful so far," the official said.

Meanwhile, protests rocked Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) where medical counselling was underwayon Thursday. About 30 leaders of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) barged into the venue shouting slogans and demanding that the government introduce transparency in admissions. They were arrested around 11.30 am. Sources said more protests were expected next week.