LUDHIANA: In an unprecedented action taken by state taxation department, powers of six excise and taxation officer ( ETO ) level officers of the department, five of whom are posted in Ludhiana and one in Fatehgarh Sahib , have been withdrawn with immediate effect and all of them have been attached with the Patiala headquarters.Orders in this regard have been issued by excise and taxation commissioner (ETC), Punjab, Vivek Pratap Singh. According to sources in the department, the action has been taken due to the alleged involvement of these officials in helping the tax evaders but top brass of the department has refused to divulge the reasons for the action.The six ETOs against whom the action has been taken include Shalinder Singh of range-2 Ludhiana, Anish Sharma, Ved Prakash Jakhar and Mukti Gupta of range-1 Ludhiana, Tanul Goyal of range-3 Ludhiana and Neetu Bawa of Fatehgarh Sahib. As per the orders all the investigations and all the routine work which was under process in the offices of these officials have been allocated to other officials from Thursday.Confirming the development to TOI ETC Vivek Pratap Singh said, “These six officers have been attached with the headquarters until further notice and in order to avoid any suffering of public the work under process in their offices has been allocated to other officials.” When asked about the reason for such strict action taken by him against the officers, Singh ducked the question and said, “These are official things which I would not like to comment. Whether it's an action against an officer or likewise, I won't like to give a comment in the media.”

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