Fuel dues up as government craves for revenue

PUDUCHERRY: Even as the government is reeling under a financial crunch and  looking at enhancing its revenue by hiking  VAT  rates  as well as seeking  more Central  funds,  arrears of Rs 250 crore are still due to commercial tax department alone. Most of the arrears pertain to sale of petroleum products and liquor. According to the website of the department, 96 cases were pending in court for  recovery of Rs 116.66 crore, which included 81 petroleum sales cases and 15 soda ash cases.The  defaulters  had not paid the tax from various years from the period 2001-2002. In addition some cases were pending in High Court and there was even one case pertaining to sales tax from a distillery is in Supreme Court.  These distilleries claimed exemption of sales tax and were currently contesting against the government in the Supreme Court. The amount due from  distilleries including  two major distilleries was said to be around Rs 100 crore, sources said.A total of seven cases of petroleum defaulters  have been referred to directorate of enforcement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 against the proprietors of the  petroleum dealers. Simultaneously their properites were attached for proper realisation of arrears of tax and penalty due to the government. The commercial taxes department had issued a public notice, legally declaring the sale or any other mode of transfer of property by  defaulters as void, while cautioning public against any dealings with defaulters.Unfortunately the defaulters went practically scot free till  2008, when  the commercial taxes department unearthed large scale tax evasion by certain petroleum dealers. The offences were taken cognizance of by the court with 70 cases pending in the  Court of Judicial Magistrate- I, Puducherry, 14 cases in Judicial Magistrate -II  and 12 in Judicial Magistrate court, Mahe.The government had earlier appointed a special public prosecutor and special public pleader (SPP) T P Manoharan to deal only with commercial tax cases alone in the Madras High Court. However, for reasons unknown,  he was removed by the government last month.  The government had also appointed a senior Pondicherry Civil Services officer to head the department.The problem in recovering dues has been due to the fact that the arrears  have piled up  making the amount heavy for payment and some dealers are contesting the cases in court against the action of the government . Under these circumstances  it is difficult to perceive the removal of the SPP. The replacement of Raje Sekar, Commissioner (Incharge),  also has come in for sharp criticism from Congress.“When he has been able to collect Rs 833 crore which is Rs 196.22 crore higher than previous year’s Rs 636.78 crore, what is the need to replace him, said leader of opposition V Vaithilingam.