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  Metros   Mumbai  16 Aug 2017  CAG raps Maharashtra for Rs 475 crore tax arrears

CAG raps Maharashtra for Rs 475 crore tax arrears

THE ASIAN AGE. | SHRUTI GANAPATYE
Published : Aug 16, 2017, 2:32 am IST
Updated : Aug 16, 2017, 2:32 am IST

The CAG has said that there was lack of monitoring of recovery of arrears at the apex level.

It has also found that many of the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) have not maintained data about tax collection, arrears and recovery.
 It has also found that many of the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) have not maintained data about tax collection, arrears and recovery.

Mumbai: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has rapped the Maharashtra government for not recovering Rs 64 crore motor vehicle tax, Rs 388 crore passenger tax and Rs 22 crore Child Nutrition Surcharge.

It has also found that many of the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) have not maintained data about tax collection, arrears and recovery.

The CAG has said that there was lack of monitoring of recovery of arrears at the apex level.

The observations by the CAG have been revealed in its latest report tabled in the state legislature last week. The CAG has said that out of 21 RTOs, only six units had maintained ‘Dormant Register’ and submitted the returns to the transport commissioner. The Dormant Register is a record of unrecovered taxes. The remaining 15 units had not maintained the Dormant Register.

These units were neither submitting the returns nor were asked for submission of the same by the authority.

All these 15 units intimated that the record of arrears (unrecovered tax) was not available with them.

On the unrecovered motor vehicle tax, the report said, “In Mumbai, arrears of Rs 10.74 crore is yet to be recovered, in Thane Rs 38.41 crore, Osman-abad Rs 2.26 crore, Nashik Rs 1.70 crore, Pimpri-Chinchwad Rs 6.09 crore and Vashi Rs 5.41 crore. The total arrears are Rs 64.61 crore in over 1.94 lakh cases.” Thus it would be seen from the above that there was lack of monitoring of recovery of arrears at the apex level, the CAG said. Absence of information about the arrears indicates that the transport department could not recover the arrears from the defaulting vehicle owners, it said. The report further said that audit scrutiny of returns submitted by six stage carriage operators (fleet owners) out of 10 fleet owners revealed that the transport department has not recovered Passenger Tax and Child Nutrition Surcharge (CNS) of Rs 388.04 crore and Rs 22.98 crore respectively up to March 2015 from various operators.  

“The Brihanmumbai Elec-tric Supply and Transport has arrears of Rs 202.15 crore as passenger tax and Rs 15.26 crore as CNS. Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Ltd. (PMPML) has arrears of Rs 142.39 crore as passenger tax and Rs 5.35 crore as CNS. Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Tran-sport has arrears of Rs 6.10 crore as passenger tax and Rs 0.21 crore as CNS. Kolhapur Municipal Transport has arrears of Rs 8.08 crore passenger tax and Rs 0.25 CNS. Thane Municipal Transport’s passenger tax Rs 15.62 crore and Rs 0.88 crore CNS pending. Navi Mumbai Municipal Trans-port’s passenger tax of Rs 13.70 crore and Rs 1.03 crore CNS is pending,” the report added.

It was noticed that the department had issued demand notices to the fleet owners. Thereafter, no reasons were found on record for not taking action for recovery of the arrears, the CAG said.

Tags: cag, regional transport offices