The revenue arrears of the State government, as on March 31, 2022 stood at a whopping ₹28,258.39 crore, a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the State’s revenue sector has revealed.
The finding is a part of the Compliance Audit Report of the CAG on the Revenue Sector for the year ended March 31, 2022 tabled in the Assembly on Thursday.
These arrears, falling under 17 government departments/heads of account, constitute 24.23% of the total revenue of the State. The CAG has underlined the need for “urgent intervention” on the part of the State government to clear the arrears.
Of the total ₹28,258.39 crore, the State Goods and Services Tax department accounts for ₹13,410.12 crore, the Finance department (arrears in interest receipts) ₹5,979.91 crore, taxes and duties on electricity ₹3,118.50 crore, Motor Vehicles department ₹2,868.47 crore, Land Revenue department ₹635.19 crore, and the Registration department ₹590.86 crore.
To compare, the CAG report on the revenue sector for 2019-21 released in February this year had pegged the uncollected revenue till March 31, 2021 at ₹21,797.86 crore.
Laxity on the part of the departments in collecting revenue and stay orders issued by courts on recovery are two major reasons for the money remaining uncollected, according to audit officials. In fact, 33.74% of the total arrear amount, ₹6,267.31 crore to be precise, are under stay orders. Government departments should take effective action to get the stay orders vacated and recover the money, the CAG notes.
“The arrear figures are furnished by the departments every year only at the instance of audit. The absence of prompt reporting of arrears to the Revenue department and tardy performance by the departments concerned in realising the arrears are the main reasons for the huge pendency of arrears,” the report observes.
That said, comparisons with the previous report show that the arrears have gone down in the case of some departments, while others have seen an increase.
In the case of the State GST Department the arrears have dipped from ₹13,830.43 crore as on March 31, 2021 to ₹13,410.12 crore on March 31, 2022. The Registration department also reported a decrease from ₹828.57 crore to ₹590.86 crore. On the other hand, the Motor Vehicles department saw an increase from ₹2,616.90 crore to ₹2,868.47 crore and the Land Revenue department from ₹397.59 crore to ₹635.19 crore.
Trend of receipts
Kerala’s total revenue receipts increased by ₹19,023.41 crore in 2021-22 compared to the previous fiscal, the CAG report notes.
In 2021-22, the total revenue receipts of the State was ₹1,16,640.24 crore. This included ₹68,803.03 crore raised by the State government via tax and non-tax revenues and ₹47,837.21 crore from the Centre as State’s share from the divisible pool and grants-in-aid.
The percentage of revenue raised by the State government stood at 59% against the central share of 41% in 2021-22. In 2021-22, the State’s own tax revenue rose by ₹10,679.68 crore compared to 2020-21.
The report also notes that while the revenue collection by the State government decreased from 69% in 2017-18 to 59% in 2021-22, the receipts from the Centre rose from 31% to 41%.
