Six of the 11 ministers, who are second time legislators, in the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir allegedly have not filed income tax returns before contesting the state assembly polls last year.
According to the affidavits submitted by the these ministers to the Election Commission, they had not filed income tax returns for the assessment year 2013-14 ahead of the assembly elections last year.
While 11 ministers, including Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had prior legislative experience before the 2014 elections, 14 ministers in the coalition government are first time legislators.
Prominent among the ministers, who did not file their income tax returns, include Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Syed Basharat Bukhari, Horticulture Minister Abdul Rehman Veeri and Revenue Minister Javaid Mustafa Mir.
Five of these six ministers belong to the PDP, while Public Health Engineering Minister Sukhnandan Kumar is the only BJP minister not to have filed the returns. CM Sayeed, his close confidante Education Minister Naeem Akhtar and BJP's Health minister Chaudhary Lal Singh are among the five ministers who have filed their income tax returns for the assessment year 2013-14.
Under section 271 F of the Income Tax Act, a penalty of Rs 5,000 is payable if a person with taxable income fails to file returns. In case of tax evasion, criminal proceedings can be initiated against the defaulter.