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Commercial tax arrears on organisations falling under the Bhubaneswar range has mounted to Rs 2333.47 crore (as on February 2015).
The piled up dues include Rs 1,131.19 crore of value added tax (VA), Rs 406.18 crore of central sales tax (CST), entry tax worth Rs 793.42 crore and Rs 2.68 crore of entertainment tax in four circles in the Bhubaneswar range.
Finance minister Pradip Amat in reply to a question in the state assembly said, "The government is making efforts to recover the dues. Since some of the cases pertaining to arrears are pending in the Supreme Court and High Court, the state government was not in a position to collect the dues."
Cases of commercial tax arrears worth Rs 24.28 crore are pending in the Supreme Court whereas the Odisha High Court is yet to dispose off cases to the tune of Rs 492.27 crore.
Similarly, the appellate authority of the finance department was in the process of hearing cases worth Rs 625.69 crore. Tax recovery proceedings are underway for cases with dues worth Rs 101.93 crore.
The government has sent showcause notices to different organizations to recover dues of Rs 1089.30 crore, the minister said.
Organisations like National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and MMTC Ltd figure in the list of defaulting entities. An arrear of Rs 288.08 crore is pending on Nalco, Bhubaneswar while MMTC is saddled with Rs 33.11 crore dues. Necessary steps are being taken to arrive at a settlement on dues of Nalco, the minister stated. Arrear cases on state PSUs and other companies are being resolved through the State Dispute Resolution Committee.
To streamline and expedite dues collection, all facts related to the arrears have been computerises, Amat said. It has also been decided to open an exclusive centre in the Bhubaneswar commercial tax range for collection of arrears.
