Ranchi, May 16: Chief commissioner of income-tax N.K. Shukla today called for a detailed probe into the functioning of trusts that have mushroomed in the state, especially those formed by politicians and their family.

There are as many as 2,500 trusts registered with the income-tax department in the state, he said, and has reasons to believe that many more have not bothered to get themselves registered.

Most of these trusts, he said, are engaged in the education and health sectors and there is an urgent need to find out how much money the departments of HRD and health have given them.

The chief commissioner was briefing the media about a significant change in the income-tax rules, under which the discretion of the commissioner to condone delay in registration is being withdrawn.

Earlier, he explained, a trust formed in 1995 could register with the department in 2007, get the delay condoned by the commissioner and start paying taxes from the year of registration.

But from next month, said Shukla, they will have to pay taxes with effect from the year of their formation.

Therefore, trusts, which are still unregistered with the department and are keen that the delay is condoned, have one last chance of doing so till the end of May.

The rule-change, he said, had become necessary because the discretionary power given to income-tax officials were being misused.

He feared large-scale fraud of public money in the state and claimed that most trusts in Jharkhand are engaged in dubious and fraudulent activities.

“How many trusts have been formed by politicians here and how much money has the state government doled out to them?” he wondered.

There are very few trusts here that are doing good work, said Shukla and added that trusts like Rama Krishna Mission are registered outside the state.

Since most trusts do not register, said the commissioner, the I-T department has no information or record of their accounts.

“Politicians are not saints,” said Shukla and added that most of them do not even file income-tax returns. “This is the trend in the country. How can Jharkhand lag behind?” he asked rhetorically.

While trusts are establishing universities and schools, forming them to serve the poor, an investigation alone will unravel, he quipped, if they are at all enrolling students from poor families.

The I-T commissioner hit out at private schools run by trusts and named a prominent school in the state capital, which, he claimed, is collecting fees amounting to Rs 4 crore every year.