Revenue arrears of Rs.7446.73 crore pending on various organizations in Odisha: Amat
27 February, Bhubaneswar
A huge revenue arrear of Rs 7446.73 crore was pending on various industrial units, mine lease holders and contractors, Odisha Finance Minister Pradip Kumar Amat told the state Assembly Monday .
Replying to a question of Prafulla Kumar Samal and Bhagirathi Badajena (both BJD),.Amat said a sum of around Rs 1279.77 crore electricity duty was pending on 39 organisations. He said while Rs 363.61 crore could not be collected due to stay order by the Supreme Court, collection of Rs 368.32 crore was pending due to stay order by the High Court. In addition to it Rs 547.84 crore arrear could not be collected due to certificate cases filed by various individuals and organizations.
The Finance Minister said industrial water rate amounting to nearly Rs 2121.31 crore was pending on 57 organisations. While Rs 1918.36 crore arrear water rate could not be collected even after filing of cases against the defaulters, Rs 225.35 crore was pending even though no cases were filed against them.
Amat said a squad has been formed under the chairmanship of the chief engineer to resolve the dispute related to arrear on industrial water rate and collection tax. The chief engineer has been issuing direction at regular interval to the industrial units for the payment of arrear on industrial water rate.
The finance minister said Rs 2085.96 crore commercial tax was pending on 109 industrial units while Rs 1141. 27 crore tax including fine and interest could not be collected as the cases were sub judice in Supreme Court.
Similarly cases involving collection of Rs 1001,19 crore arrear tax including fine and interest was pending in the High Court.
Amat said on November 11 last the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the rights of the state to impose tax on goods entering the state and ruled that the earlier judgment of the Supreme court –Compensatory Tax Theory has no legal sanctity. But the regular bench of the Apex court will decide the legality of Entry tax Act of each state. The government , he said, is waiting for the decision of the Apex court.
The minister said regular review is being held with the Commercial Tax Commissioner through video conferencing for the collection of commercial tax arrears. Steps are being taken to collect the tax arrears of state and central public sector undertakings through mutual understanding by the State Resolution Committee. Efforts are being made for the speedy disposal of cases pending in various courts.
Similarly while Rs 1846.99 crore mining revenue was pending on various industrial and mine lease holder, Rs 60.41 crore excise revenue was pending on various license holders.A sum of Rs 2.69 crore arrear has been collected since the beginning of the current financial year.
Amat said forest development tax amounting to Rs 52.29 crore was pending on Odisha Forest Development Corporation(OFDC) and other contractors.
A Focussed Arrear Recovery Monitoring System, a web based module has been prepared to take legal and administrative steps for monitoring and collection of arrears,he added.