Punjab News Daily

Chandigarh, June 19

Punjab Finance, Planning, and Excise & Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday announced that the state government has significantly intensified its recovery drive against tax defaulters by officially commencing the public auction of properties belonging to chronic VAT and GST evaders. He said, “In a decisive move to reclaim long-pending state revenue, the Department of Excise and Taxation has successfully executed three major property auctions, recovering substantial sums from businesses and individuals who deliberately failed to discharge their tax liabilities despite being granted repeated opportunities and official legal notices.”
Elaborating on the initial successes of this enforcement drive, Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said that the first major property auction was successfully conducted in Mohali against the defaulter firm M/s Sumit Engineering, where the property was sold for Rs 13.22 crore on June 19, 2026. He further said that another successful auction was carried out in Shahkot, Jalandhar, involving the property of M/s MR Rice Mills, which fetched a total of Rs 1.11 crore. The Minister said, “A sum of Rs 3.58 crore has already been deposited by the successful bidders directly into the government treasury today, while the remaining balance will be legally recovered and deposited within the coming week as per established rules.”
According to Cheema, these initial successful auctions conducted across Mohali and Jalandhar clearly demonstrate the state’s absolute resolve to enforce tax compliance without fear or favor. The Finance Minister emphasised that these stringent recovery proceedings, which include the physical attachment and auction of properties, are a direct continuation of the Punjab government’s earlier policy announcements. He made it clear that these aggressive actions are specifically targeted at chronic tax defaulters who stubbornly chose not to avail themselves of the massive relief benefits provided under the state’s One Time Settlement (OTS) Scheme.
While maintaining a strict stance on tax evasion, Finance Minister Cheema said, “ The Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab government’s primary objective is always the recovery of legitimate public money rather than purely punitive action.”