THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The arrears in tax revenue for the State Government has touched a whopping Rs 5,358 crore, with significant arrears including Rs 3184.95 crore due from individuals and private firms.Out of it, the dues of public sector undertakings by way of commercial taxes is Rs 1754.82 crore. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India report for the period of 2010-11 pointed out that of the total arrears, Rs 1,679 crore were outstanding for more than five years. The report had also recommended action against those department heads who had failed to take necessary steps to collect the outstanding dues.The Commercial Taxes Department is yet to collect arrears of Rs 4,962 crore. The Forest Department has to collect arrears of Rs 185.04 crore. The Police Department has arrears of Rs 82.42 crore while the Printing and Stationery Department has to collect arrears to the tune of Rs 12.83 crore.The CAG report severely criticised the heads of departments concerned for not taking corrective steps even after the CAG in its previous reports had pointed out irregularities in the inspection reports (IRs). “We noticed that out of the inspection reports issued up to December, 2010, Rs 1522.81 crore relating to 2581 IRs remained outstanding at the end of June 2011. We have not even received first replies from the heads of offices for 230 inspection reports,” said the report. “The non-receipt of first replies and increase in the number of outstanding audit observations indicate that the heads of offices and heads of departments had failed to initiate timely action to rectify the omissions pointed out by us,” the report observed.The CAG has recommended to the State Government to design effective procedures so as to ensure prompt and appropriate response to audit observations. “The government may also institute systems for taking action against officials who fail to send replies to the IRs as per the prescribed time schedule and those who do not take action to recover outstanding arrears in a time-bound manner,” the report said.REVENUE COLLECTION IMPROVESThe state has achieved an healthy growth rate of 18.69 per cent in revenue collection during 2010-11 compared to the corresponding period last year with the revenue receipts touching Rs 30,990.95 crore.The CAG report for this fiscal states that out of the accruals, Rs 21,721 crore was from tax revenue and Rs 1,930 crore came from non-tax revenue. Though the CAG report appreciates the overall growth in the tax collection which increased by 23.97 per cent during 2010-11 as against 12.35 per cent during the previous year, it points out that internal audit was quite weak and follow up of the audit observations was ineffective.“The state could achieve a growth due to increase in sales tax collection by 41.99 per cent following the increase in the price of petroleum products,’’ the report observed.
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