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Abkari arrears: House panel raps Taxes dept.

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM FEB. 11. The Assembly Committee on Public Accounts has taken exception to the failure of the Taxes Department to keep details of abkari arrears and recover them.

The committee has gathered that the total arrears as on March 31, 2000 came to about Rs. 209 crores. This included amounts on which revenue recovery had been stayed by courts.

The committee, chaired by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, urged the Government to take immediate steps to recover ``this alarmingly huge dues'' and take steps to get the stay orders vacated.

It recommended in its report to the House that systematic accounting of arrears including those pending in courts should be maintained by the Excise Department. A time-bound action plan should be enunciated to recover the arrears held up due to court decisions. The Government should also inform the committee the steps taken in this regard as well as the details of arrears stayed by the High Court and other courts, and steps taken to vacate the stays.

The committee noted that the Taxes Department had failed to furnish the figures relating to the abkari arrears for the period from 1990-91 to 1992- 93 to the audit. The maintenance of records was flawed. The department had also not furnished details of arrears of revenue for the period from 1994-95 to 1999-2000 to audit, despite being reported to the Chief Secretary on December 11, 2000.

``The committee would like to be informed of the actual reason for the variations in the figures in abkari arrears collected by the division from excise ranges and those reported to the Commissioner of Excise by the division. The committee urge the Commissioner, Excise, to submit monthly statements of abkari arrears to the Government based on the figures received from the controlling officers of sub-offices of the department in accordance with the provisions contained in the Kerala Financial Code.''

The committee further recommended that an exhaustive list of abkari arrears should be maintained in the office of the Commissioner, Excise, and the Taxes Department for achieving transparency in the accounts of arrears pending collection and to invite speedy action to recover the sums.

The committee suggested that the details of abkari arrears collected be furnished with more clarity. It urged the department to expedite the reconciliation process regarding variations in the figures of demand, collection and balance of abkari arrears collected by the divisions from excise ranges in Alappuzha, Kollam and Kottayam and those reported to the Board of Revenue. Steps should be taken for the proper and up-to-date maintenance of demand, collection and balance (DCB) registers. The committee recommended that the maintenance of up-to-date DCB register should be made mandatory so as to send consolidated statement of abkari arrears to the Government and to initiate action against the defaulters.

The Secretary, Taxes Department, informed the committee that recovery proceedings had already been started in respect of Rs. 24.39 lakhs. The Supreme Court stay on collection of this amount had been vacated. The committee wanted the proceedings to be expedited.

The committee observed that indiscriminate stays were allowed in the revenue recovery cases relating to excise in spite of the financial constraints of the State. Details regarding the number and amount of stay orders issued by the Supreme Court, High Court and other courts as on March 31, 2001 should be furnished to the Committee.

The committee also suggested that the Government appoint a senior counsel in the Supreme Court. The Advocate General as well as the Government pleaders should be more alert in following up cases and effecting recovery of arrears.

The committee expressed strong displeasure over the action of the Government in having written off an amount with respect to short levy of import fee on beer and Indian Made Foreign Liquor imported by various defence departments amounting to Rs. 28.22 lakhs as on March 31, 1990 and Rs. 16.45 lakhs under 489 permits issued during 1992-93 and 1993-94.The Government could have taken various measures for effecting the recovery, it observed.

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