Patna: The commercial taxes department has re-introduced the Bihar e-way bill system for inter-state and intra-state movement of goods for trade.

The system was withdrawn from February 1, when the national e-way bill system came into force, but the state has revised the old system, as the new system was withdrawn on the day of its introduction.

According to the state e-way bill system, traders are supposed to generate these bills in case the transported goods are worth Rs 50,000 or more in case of inter-state trade and Rs 2 lakh or more in case of intra-state trade.

"We revived the old system as the new one didn't come into force. The e-way bill helps the department keep a tab on the movement of goods, which in turn, helps put effective checks on tax evasion," a senior official of the state commercial taxes department told The Telegraph on Thursday.

He said continuation of the old system would keep the practice of generating e-way bill system active and hence when the national e-way bill system comes into force, state traders will not face problems shifting to the new system.

Those affected by the change in the system, however, did not seem very impressed with the step taken by the commercial taxes department.

"Traders in Bihar are a confused lot," Bihar chamber of commerce and industries president P.K. Agrawal said. "Earlier, they were told that after withdrawal of the national e-way bill system they would not require any e-way bill for transporting their goods but suddenly the state government revived its old system, leading to confusion among the trading community."

He said that frequent changes in the system would lead to erosion of trust about the system through which the government wants to keep a tab on business.

Mashendra Kumar Mashi, chairman of the Patna branch of the Institute of Charted Accountants of India, said that the commercial taxes department should have made state traders aware of its move before implementing it. "While a section of traders have become aware of the new system, many from the fraternity, particularly those residing in far-flung areas, are not aware of re-introduction of the state e-way bill," Mashi said. "Several such traders may end up violating the rule in the absence of information."

Officials in the state commercial taxes department maintained that they were aware of this issue and the department had started issuing detailed advertisements in newspapers to make people aware of the changes made to the rules.