 "Odisha saddled with Rs 6,200-cr commercial tax dues")
Of this, central PSUs like Steel Authority of India Ltd, National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco), NTPC Ltd, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) and Ordinance Factory owe Rs 1616.03 crore.
As many as 281 cases are pending in respect of arrears against the central PSUs.
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"We hope to take up the cases of Nalco, SAIL and Ordinance Factory before the end of this current fiscal for settlement. There is a dispute resolution mechanism for arrears of state and central PSUs. The government is now focusing on settling high stake arrears and writing off unrecoverable ones", said a senior government official.
Arrear cases above Rs 10 crore are being monitored by zonal additional commissioner, commercial tax. There are 133 such cases worth Rs 4000 crore.
The arrear cases in the range of Rs one to 10 crore are being monitored by the junior commissioner, commercial tax. Such cases are 567 in number, valued at Rs 1459.42 crore.
The state government has completed digitization of all cases pending in the Supreme Court, Odisha High Court and sales tax tribunal.
Among state PSUs, 793 arrear cases involving Rs 35.57 crore are pending. Out of this, Rs 30.02 crore is owed by only four companies, representing 85 per cent of the total dues. The four companies include Odisha State Seeds Corporation Ltd- OSSC (Rs 13.03 crore), IDCOL Cement Ltd, Bargarh (Rs 9.51 crore), Gridco (Rs 2.71 crore) and IDCOL Kalinga Works (Rs 4.77 crore).
Cases pertaining to OSSC Ltd and IDCOL have been analysed and sent to the state finance department for dispute resolution.
It has been proposed to form a three member committee headed by special secretary, finance department and two officers of the rank of additional secretary. The committee would have powers to settle cases of disputed amount up to Rs three crore.