Amrapali CEO arrested for not paying labour cess of ?4 crore
Amrapali's CEO Ritik Kumar Sinha and director Nishant Mukul were arrested over alleged fraud and not paying labour cess of ?4.29 crore to Labour Department. Amrapali received a final recovery notice in March 2017 but when it failed to pay, police took action. The district administration said labour cess is charged for labour's welfare, which the group didn't pay.
The director and chief executive officer (healthcare) of Amrapali Group were arrested by tehsildar of Dadri on Monday afternoon from their corporate office in Sector 62 for not paying labour cess amounting to Rs 4.29 crore to the labour department. The director has been identified as Nishant Mukul, 43, and the CEO as Ritik Kumar Sinha. Tehsildar Dadri PL Maurya said the duo was served several notices by deputy labour commissioner of Gautam Budh Nagar to pay labour cess, which is meant for the welfare of labourers, but the group did not pay any heed. ?The labour department issued a recovery certificate for the recovery of the amount and I conducted searches at the office of the Amrapali Group along with the police,? Maurya said. The arrests were made under Section 171 of the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code. Maurya issued the arrest warrant on July 20 against three persons. Another director, Mohit Gupta, was also to be arrested but he was not in his office at the time of the arrests.Section 171 of Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code says any person defaulting on payment of an arrear of land revenue may be arrested and detained in custody in the tehsil lockup till the dues are paid but the period should not exceed 15 days. Maurya said, ?Sinha happens to be the son-in-law of Amrapali Group chairman and managing director (CMD) Anil Kumar Sharma. Sinha and Mukul will remain in the tehsil lockup for 14 days if they do not clear the dues. If they do not pay the money even after 14 days, we cannot keep them behind bars as 15 days is the maximum time for custody. In such an event, they will be released and further course of action will be decided later.? District magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar DM Singh said, ?The Amrapali Group is a defaulter of labour cess and the tehsildar has taken action as per the law.? The district magistrate said the revenue department received a recovery certificate from the labour department on June 5 for recovery of Rs 4.29 crore from the Amrapali Group. Accordingly, the teshil office issued a notice to the group and warned them through a ?beating of drums? that action will be taken if dues are not cleared. But the money was not deposited by the Amrapali Group even after that.