TURA: Joint Secretary of the UDP, State Youth Wing, Anand M Marak has written to the Commissioner of Taxation alleging various anomalies in the functioning of teer counters in the five districts of Garo Hills.
Marak, in his intimation to the official stated that teer, which is the indigenous game of the Khasis has been transformed into betting and is being utilized by the Taxation Department as one of its sources of revenue.
According to Marak, it was learnt through RTI that a total of 456 licenses have been issued by the Taxation Department in the five district of Garo Hills.
However, he claimed that there are over 1000 teer counters operating all over Garo Hills at present.
Marak also questioned whether the revenue being received by the State tallied with the number of counters that are in operation.
Pointing out that a single license is meant for a single counter, Marak claimed that many license holders are operating multiple counters at different locations with a single license.
Marak also alleged that benami transaction was taking place with certain license holders not running the counters themselves and subletting their licenses to third parties without legal agreements, while some others were running the business in other people’s names.
With regard to salesman, Marak said that appointment should be done with the permission from the Taxation Department, who should be given an ID Card.
Stating that license holders are required to submit the money received beyond the permissible sale to the Khasi Hills Archery Sport Institute (KHASI), Marak claimed that the same was not being done by the owners.
Other concerns raised by Marak on the issue included the use of ordinary paper as teer ticket instead of that prescribed by the Taxation Department and the absence of signboards at teer counters with necessary information like name of license holder along with license number, date of issue, expiry and limit allotted which are mandatory.
Marak urged the concerned official to immediately issue a written order to the owners with necessary directives.
