The government failed to recover a potential revenue of over Rs 1.2 lakh crore due to pending appeals at various levels of the judiciary and other adjudicating authorities, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report revealed on Tuesday.
"Huge amounts of revenue remain unrealised for substantial periods of time due to pendency of appeals," the report stated.
"Cases involving revenue of Rs 1,22,008 crore were pending in appeals at the end of FY17 registering a 26 per cent increase over the amount pending at the end of FY16," it said.
It added that around 45,500 appeals involving revenue of Rs 96,823 crore were pending in 2015-16 which increased to 50,849 appeals involving a sum of Rs 1,22,008 crore. Out of these, 8,147 appeals were pending in the Supreme Court, 12,450 in High Courts, 189 in Settlement Commission, and an overwhelming 94,327 were pending with the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT).
"As no action can be initiated for recovery of revenue till the appeal is pending, early disposal by the various authorities to bring in possible revenue of Rs 1,22,008 crore to the government coffers is important," the report said.
According to the report, the success ratio of the department's appeals against adjudication orders decreased from 25.53 per cent in FY16 to 20.61 per cent in FY17.
The data showed that only 721 appeals were decided in favour of the Income Tax Department as against 2,507 appeals decided against the department in 2016-17.
"The success ratio ranges between 10 per cent to 12 per cent when the department went in appeal in CESTAT and High Court" where a majority of appeals are pending, it said.
--IANS
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