Bhubaneswar,News Today ,07th October 2020 : THE Odisha Government had to sustain a loss of Rs 795.18 crore due to under assessment and short levy even though the percentage of tax and non-tax revenue raised by the State Government increased from 41.58 per cent (pc) in 2016-17 to 42.60 pc in 2017-18.
In its latest report tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday, the CAG pulled up the Finance department for not submitting to audit as many as 1401 assessment files, returns, refund registers and other relevant records involving Rs 2004.18 crore. The Government also had to incur loss of Rs 112.26 crore under mining receipts for non-inclusion of sizing charges in the run-of-mine price of coal during assessment of royalty.
Besides, dead rent of Rs 1.55 crore and surface rent of Rs 16.67 lakh was neither demanded by the department nor paid by the lessees during different periods between January, 2014 and January, 2017.Similarly, motor vehicle tax and additional tax of Rs 26.74 crore and penalty of Rs 53.48 crore were not realised from registered owners of 27,413 goods and contract carriages. The CAG maintained that motor vehicle tax of Rs 4.06 crore and penalty of Rs 8.12 crore were not realised from registered owners of 13,520 tractor trailer combinations, private service vehicles and buses of educational institutions.
The CAG pulled up the Excise department for not fixing the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of OS liquor pouches and allowing the sector to remain unregulated as a result of which the consumers were left at the vagaries of the liquor shops. Besides, purchase of Mahua flower was also made below the minimum sale price notified by the government, which resulted in benefits for the middlemen.
The CAG maintained that revenue receipts of Rs 99,546 crore in 2018-19 constituting 20.51 pc of the GSDP of Rs 4,85,376 crore increased by 16.83 pc over the previous year. The corresponding increase in the revenue expenditure of Rs 85,356 crore during 2018-19 over Rs 71,837 crore of 2017-18 was 18.82 pc. The State also registered a revenue surplus of Rs 14,190 crore during 2018-19.