The Delhi government has come down heavily on traders and transporters who bring undeclared goods to the national capital from other states, with over Rs 3.9 crore being realised as penalty last month for such activities.

In December, the city’s department of trade and taxes is said to have detected 783 vehicles which entered the city without declaring beforehand the nature and value of goods being brought by filing the Delhi Sugam-2 (DS-2) form. This form can be filled online and is used to declare beforehand goods being brought to the city and the vehicle being used.

In a statement, the trade and taxes department said a penalty of Rs 50,000 each, amounting to a total of about Rs 3.91 crore, was imposed upon the dealers and transporters of the 783 vehicles. Vat commissioner S.S. Yadav said in December more than 10,000 vehicles were checked by the teams of the department and 250 vehicles carrying goods without any supporting documents were detected and consequently detained.

The statement said the valuation of goods in the detained vehicles was done and penalty as per the law was imposed. “The vehicles were released after realisation of tax and penalty. An amount of Rs 2 crore has been realised from such vehicles in the last one month only.”

The impounded vehicles were found carrying a variety of goods, with majority of them carrying readymade garments, grocery items and electronics. In the last three months, the department has reportedly detained 539 vehicles carrying goods without documents and realised tax and penalty of more than Rs 3 crore from them. Besides those, in the last three months, 1,901 vehicles were detected bringing goods to Delhi without filing the mandatory DS-2 form beforehand. The officer said that by catching the vehicles bringing undeclared goods to Delhi, the department has foiled the attempts of traders who evade VAT by selling such goods illegally in Delhi. As per Delhi Value-Added Tax Act 2004, any vehicle carrying goods must carry supporting documents.

Besides this, the traders also need to inform the department about the nature of goods and their value.