Narendra Kumar
Biometric Aadhaar authentication is set to be introduced at 46 GST service centres across Madhya Pradesh to address issues of fraudulent GST registrations at the initial stages.
The objective of this initiative is to improve the registration process by identifying and stopping activities of fake taxpayers, to cease the revenue leakage for the government.
These centres, a collaborative effort between the state and central GST departments, are expected to begin operations by late November. The purpose of these Sewa Kendras being established in the state is to detect and prevent fraudulent registrations during the initial application stages.
This will be achieved through biometric verification, which involves capturing the applicant’s photograph and physically validating their original documents.
According to SGST Additional Commissioner Rajani Singh, fraudulent firms often manipulate the system by forging bills and submitting fake documents under the names of individuals uninvolved in the business. These centres aim to identify such cases the the starting stages of the registration process.
Experts have highlighted that dishonest taxpayers misuse the online registration system through malpractices to facilitate fraudulent transactions. Biometric Aadhaar authentication is seen as a crucial measure to monitor and prevent such activities.
In Madhya Pradesh, five of the GST service centres will be managed by the Central GST (CGST) department in cities like Indore, Ujjain, Bhopal, Jabalpur, and Gwalior, while the remaining centres will be operated by the State GST (SGST) department.
In Indore alone, approximately 15 applications for new GST registrations are processed daily. Using historical data, the system will identify patterns of fraud, such as previous suspicious registrations associated with the same PAN or unusual transactions.
Such flagged cases will be redirected to the Sewa Kendra for further verification, which includes Aadhaar authentication and cross-checking documents like rent agreements and electricity bills by contacting property owners, explained Singh.
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Applicants at these service centres will be assigned appointments, during which their biometric data will be authenticated to finalize the verification process.