VARANASI: Utter chaos prevailed in the trade tax office premises on Tuesday when lawyers and office employees came face to face. Situation became normal only after intervention of senior officers and police.

As a part of their state-wide agitation against the fresh amendments in UP Value Added Tax Act, the office-bearers and members of the UP Tax Bar Association, Varanasi Kar Adhivakta Sangh and Sales Tax Bar Association staged a sit-in in T-T office premises. Some groups of trader associations also joined the agitation. After assembling at the agitation venue, the lawyers and traders entered the office building to ensure closure of all offices, courts and chambers.

During the bid to take out employees from their offices and courts forcibly, agitators and employees came face to face. The employees also assembled at one place and forced agitators to quit the office building. Situation worsened when some employee union leaders arrived at the agitation venue. It led to chaos as both groups indulged in a fight. Policemen deployed there were unable to stop them.

On receiving the information of the incident, some senior officials of T-T department and heavy police force also arrived there. This development helped in normalising the situation and the employees returned to their work. However, the agitating lawyers started demanding action against a leader of the employees union by claiming that he had provoked his colleagues to attack the lawyers and traders.

When additional commissioner (T-T) Kamta Prasad visited the agitation venue to receive the memorandum of agitators, they started pressurising him to initiate action against employee union leaders instead of highlighting the demands of their associations. The official asked the lawyers to give a written complaint against union leaders and assured that appropriate action would be initiated. Afterwards, lawyers handed over their memorandum to Prasad for forwarding it to the commissioner. Prasad also made it clear that any decision on demands like withdrawal of amendments in UP VAT Act could be taken only by the commissioner or state government.
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