₹16,000-Crore Property Deals Under Scanner as Income Tax Raids Revenue Offices in Punjab, Haryana

Chandigarh (The Uttam Hindu): In a massive crackdown on suspected irregularities in high-value property transactions, the Intelligence and Criminal Investigation (I&CI) Directorate of the Income Tax Department, Chandigarh, on Wednesday carried out extensive survey operations at multiple offices of state land revenue authorities across Punjab and Haryana.

The action targeted tehsildars and naib tehsildars posted at Panchkula, Zirakpur, Pathankot and Sahnewal in Ludhiana district, as part of a special nationwide drive aimed at detecting large-scale lapses and possible manipulation in the reporting of immovable property transactions.

According to official sources, the surveys have unearthed a staggering volume of property transactions exceeding ₹16,000 crore that were either not reported at all to the Income Tax Department or were reported with incorrect PAN details, effectively keeping them outside the department’s scrutiny framework.

During physical verification, Income Tax officials cross-checked data available on the state registry software with the information actually furnished by tehsildars to the tax authorities. The comparison revealed serious discrepancies. In several cases, high-value property deals worth crores of rupees were completely omitted, while in many others, wrong or incomplete PAN numbers were deliberately or negligently furnished.

As per statutory requirements, all property transactions exceeding ₹30 lakh must be mandatorily reported to the Income Tax Department along with complete details of buyers and sellers, including PAN and Aadhaar. However, the surveys revealed that these norms were repeatedly violated, raising serious concerns about systemic failures and possible intent to conceal identities of parties involved.

The department has now initiated a deeper probe to ascertain whether incorrect PAN details were intentionally used to shield beneficiaries and evade tax scrutiny.

Officials confirmed that similar survey actions have already been carried out by the Chandigarh Directorate of I&CI, which has jurisdiction over the North-Western Region, covering Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Notably, the Principal Director General of the Directorate had convened an all-India meeting of State Inspector Generals of Revenue in New Delhi last month to sensitise officials about their statutory responsibilities. Despite this, the continued discovery of incorrect reporting indicates persistent non-compliance by several revenue officers.

The Income Tax Department is expected to widen the investigation in the coming days, with further action likely against erring officials and beneficiaries involved in the unreported transactions.