Bihar suffered revenue loss of Rs 1,403 crore in 2013-14: CAG

PATNA: A Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG) report today said Bihar government suffered a revenue loss of Rs 1,403.8 crore in 2013-14 due to various reasons including under-assessment and non-levy or short levy of taxes.

The loss of revenue pertained to various departments like state excise, commercial taxes, taxes on vehicles, land revenue, non-ferrous mining, metallurgical industries and other departments, according to the CAG report on revenue sector tabled in the state legislature.

Bihar Accountant General (AG), Audit, P K Singh said: "The excise revenue loss has been calculated on the basis of minimum guaranteed quota (MGQ) of suppliers. A possibility of more revenue loss cannot be denied if MGQ increases or the supply is over and above it."

"Having 17 different country liquor supply rates instead of one as was the practice, is also in violation of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) instructions and seems to have been done with a view to benefit liquor suppliers," Singh said.

The AG (Audit) also said the issue was a departure from the established procedure adopted in previous tenders and also failed in the claimed objective of breaking down cartelisation of liquor suppliers.

It may be noted that senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi had levelled allegations of a scam in the department to benefit country liquor manufacturers and suppliers.

Modi had claimed the state government was losing revenue to the tune of Rs 100 crore in a span of just 26 days in December 2014.

The CAG report said non-verification of the amount deposited by liquor licensees resulted in defalcation of Rs 8.15 crore in just three excise offices in the state.

In the Commercial Taxes Department, the CAG said, a performance audit on levy and collection of entry tax indicated deviation from a cabinet decision while issuing notification for increase of rates of entry tax from four to five per cent. This caused a revenue loss of Rs 8.37 crore.

"The state cabinet had approved increase in entry tax on 11 items, but its notification mentioned just nine items. Whether two items were left out by mistake or deliberately is difficult to say, but the excise department in its compliance report accepted the fact," Singh said.

The CAG report said that Rs 7,482.61 crore was collected under Bihar Trade Development Fund, but was not utilised for the purposes and the manner prescribed under the Bihar Tax on Entry of Goods into local areas (BTEG) Act, 1993.

It said suppression of import value of Rs 714.89 crore by 21 dealers in 14 tax circles resulted in short levy of entry tax of Rs 223.29 crore including leviable penalty during 2009-10 to 2012-13.

The report further said only 12.57 to 17.48 per cent of the total number of dealers were assessed for taxation purposes in 13 circles during the year 2008-09 to 2012-13. Similarly, in nine circles, application of incorrect rate of entry tax by 22 dealers resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 66.66 crore.

Cross verification of transactions revealed suppression of import value of Rs 1,416.22 crore and short levy of entry tax of Rs 119 crore including penalty during 2010-11 to 2013-14, it said

The report said 12,552 transport vehicles with consignment value of Rs 5,402.37 crore entered Bihar through two check-posts by using 'suvidha' or transit permission through the state, but they did not exit leading to leakage of a big amount of revenue.