Bengaluru, Jun 26 (PTI) Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday warned excise officials against any action that could tarnish the image of the government and said legal provisions could be introduced to transfer officials to other departments, if required.

Holding a review meeting of the excise department at Vidhana Soudha here, the CM instructed officials to work with great caution.

“If you function with dignity, the government's dignity is enhanced. If you do anything that damages the government's dignity, we will not remain idle. Do not assume that the staff and officials of the Excise department cannot be transferred to another department. If needed, there are also opportunities to bring about the legal changes necessary to carry out transfers. I am giving you clear instructions to work with great caution,” he said.

Shivakumar said he would not tolerate any action that would bring disrepute to his government.

Referrign to the newly implemented AIB system, he said, "After the AIB (Alcohol in beverage) system was newly implemented in the Department, growth has occurred at the expected level. It has been decided to put 574 new licenses up for e-auction. Provide the facility to pay the license renewal amount in two instalments,” he told the officials, as per a statement issued by the CM office.

Shivakumar said that he has reviewed the functioning of the excise departments in neighbouring states and asked officials to strive to achieve their targets.

“ If you work with dignity, the department's dignity is preserved. If the department's dignity is preserved, the government's dignity is enhanced. Display the professionalism that lifts up government's dignity. Otherwise, strict action becomes unavoidable,” he called on the officials.

Earlier in the day, in a separate review meeting of the Commercial Taxes department, the CM expressed happiness over Karnataka achieving the second highest GST growth in the country and said he was confident that the state would exceed tax collection targets for the current financial year.

"There has been 9 per cent growth. It is satisfying that the state has achieved higher growth than the states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana,” he said.

The CM instructed officials to ensure no goods-carrying vehicles cross check-posts at state borders without proper documentation.

"There must be no scope for tax evasion. There is no room for any kind of compromise or negligence in this," he said.

Shivakumar asked officials to ensure coordination with the Commercial Tax departments and enforcement agencies of neighbouring states.

"Tax evasion must be effectively prevented through information-sharing and joint operations," he said.

The CM said the government's intention was not to trouble honest taxpayers unnecessarily and stressed that there should be no scope whatsoever for tax fraud.

"Strict measures must be taken to completely prevent tax leakage. By the time the next review meeting is held, every instruction I have given today must have been implemented. In the next meeting, I will personally review your performance with many real examples,” he said.

Shivakumar also highlighted fake invoices and fake Input Tax Credit claims as a major challenge.

"We are handling this challenge capably. By detecting bogus companies, we have collected Rs 166 crore," he added. PTI AMP ROH