State slammed for revenue loss of ₹90cr

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has slammed the state for revenue losses of ₹90.18 crore owing to loss of stamp duty due to undervaluation of the property,

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has slammed the state for revenue losses of ₹90.18 crore owing to loss of stamp duty due to undervaluation of the property, wrong calculation of market value, misclassification and incorrect grant of benefits. The auditing regulator has also rapped the revenue department for a loss of ₹198 crore owing to short levy (government term for charging amount less than what it should be), incorrect levy of agriculture assessment and licence fee, among others.

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The CAG report, pertaining to the revenue sector, was tabled in both the houses of the state legislature on Tuesday. Of the 59,597 instruments scrutinised, the auditors found non-realisation of stamp duty and registration fee of ₹90.18 crore in 484 cases. The audit also remained undetected for years and has suggested strengthening internal audit to avoid such cases, it said. The short levy caused a loss of ₹4.68 crore, incorrect exemption ₹1.62 crore, misclassification of documents ₹1.26 crore, undervaluation of property ₹78.65 crore and other irregularities ₹3.96 crore. Most of the cases related to registration of land were from Haveli in Pune, it stated.

The report has a mention of a cases of short levy of measurement fees, sanad fee, licence fee, non-auction or short recovery of surface rent of the sand ghats, royalty on sand excavation, incorrect levy of non-agriculture assessment, occupancy charges leading to revenue losses worth ₹197.73 crore. In one such scrutiny, the CAG report has stated, “Scrutiny of five cases revealed the land was sold by the owner for non-agriculture purpose at a consideration of ₹27.85 crore. The unearned income of ₹20.88 crore was due to the government from the land owner, though the recovery was done only for ₹7.19 crore,” it has stated.

The report has also stated that of the 3.02 crore vehicles registered in the state, 14.54 lakh vehicles were checked randomly only to find that 1,593 vehicles had violated the rules of payment of tax, penalty, compounding fees among others. It led to the loss of ₹3.07 crore.

Besides, the short payment towards violation of loading restrictions at the border check posts led to a revenue loss of ₹81 crore. It has also pointed to the loss due to non-recovery of motor vehicle tax.