Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 13: In the much publicized Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking recovery of Sales Tax arrears worth crores of rupees, Division Bench of State High Court comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Hasnain Massodi today expressed displeasure over recovery made till date and directed Finance Department to galvanize the committees constituted in this regard and give some teeth to them.
According to the status report filed by the State in compliance to previous order, an amount of Rs 9.10 crore has been recovered from the defaulters till date against an amount of Rs 612.31 crore recoverable from them. The total arrears of taxes, which have been stayed by the court, are to the tune of Rs 256.70 crore.
After perusal of the status report, the DB asked the Advocate General to furnish further details of the cases pending before the High Court with interim orders staying the recovery, so that the hearing is expedited. Likewise before the J&K State Sales Tax Tribunal arrears to the tune of Rs 93.58 crore have been stayed and the details of those appeals shall also be furnished to the High Court so that appropriate orders are passed for expediting the disposal of those appeals. Even some appeals are pending before CCT/DC (Appeals) involving recovery of Rs 9 crore and details are required to be ascertained, the DB said.
Division Bench further observed, “the arrears recoverable by the Sales Tax Department from Government and Semi Government Departments are shown to be Rs 15.07 crore. It includes BSNL, Power Grid Corporation, Conservator of Forest (East Circle) and so many others. The arrears to the tune of Rs 138.38 crore have also been shown against ‘non traceable defaulters’.
“The recovery is tardy and slow. Against the total amount of Rs 612.31 crore recoverable, only Rs 9.10 crore has been recovered. The recovery works out to be less than 2% therefore the State has to devise effective methods of recovery. A casual look at the list of defaulters would show that taxes recoverable from various private persons as well as Government/Semi Government agencies are to the tune of crores of rupees”, the DB said and hoped that some mechanism would be developed by the State for effecting recovery from the defaulters as welfare projects cannot run without the payment of taxes.
Pointing towards the submission of the Advocate General M I Qadiri that a committees has been constituted to effect recovery of arrears, the DB said, “no report by the committees has so far been filed with regard to the steps taken by them nor anything is available on the record to show that how effective these committees are in Jammu and Kashmir divisions. We are not sure about the effectiveness of these committees in making recovery as such the Finance Department should give some teeth to the committees”.
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