Twist in sugar scandal.

Byline: Devraj Dasgupta

PUNE: The central excise and customs department has served show cause notices to at least half a dozen co-operative sugar factories in the state for failing to submit proof of export.

Three more are under scrutiny for duty evasion, D.S. Sra, commissioner of central excise, Pune-II, told TNN.

The co-operative sugar factories in the state, especially in Pune and Aurangabad divisions, recently received a rap on the knuckles when acting sugar commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad ordered the filing of criminal cases against their boards of directors for selling export quota sugar in the domestic open market.

Thus, the factories not only availed excise duty concessions for export sugar, but also earned bigger profit margins. Gaikwad said that each of the factories may have siphoned off up to Rs 2 crore in the process.

The central excise and customs department had launched its inquiry after Shiv Sena MLC Kanhaiiyalal Gidwani lodged a formal complaint about excise evasion by sugar factories. As part of its probe, the department is checking details of sugar exported directly by manufacturers and that through export agents.

The officials at Central Excise, Pune-II, say that according to the investigations, 24 out of 49 sugar factories in Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg had exported sugar during the last fiscal ended March 31, 2002.