Audit Reports
Maharashtra
Report No.3 of 2018 - Revenue Sector Government of Maharashtra
Overview
This Report contains 33 paragraphs including one Performance Audit relating to non/short levy of taxes, duties, interest and penalty, etc., involving ` 117.24 crore.
Performance audit on “Encroachment on Government land for non-agricultural purposes” revealed that the Government did not maintain any database of the Government land in the State and also data of encroachment on Government land was not available at District and Tahsil level. The monitoring by the Department was weak on account of (i) absence of periodical reports for keeping a check over encroachment, (ii) lack of efforts to obtain data/information on Government land and (iii) laxity of the Department in taking penal action against encroachers.
Audit of the “Maharashtra Settlement of arrears in Disputes Act, 2016” revealed that the expected settlement of arrears and the recovery therefrom was not properly assessed at the time of framing the policy. The coverage of the scheme in the mainstream print ane electronic media was not adequate. Thirty-eight percent of the orders under the Settlement Act were in respect of appeals filed by the dealer after the enactment of the Settlement Act which actually did not constitute arrears in dispute at the time of notification of the Act.
Audit of “Management of Nazul lands in Vidarbha Region” revealed that there was no mechanism to keep track on sales/transfers of Nazul Lands. Non-execution of registration of Nazul leases at the time of renewal resulted in loss of stamp duty and registration fees of ` 16.81 crore in 80 cases.
Sales in alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and general merchandise items valued at ` 3.91 crore made to various flights of different airlines were incorrectly treated as tax free goods, resulting in short levy of tax of ` 48.89 lakh. Fines at revised rates for traffic violations aggregating ` 3.63 crore in 1,34,010 cases was not realized as the notification revising the rates was implemented with delays ranging from four to 25 weeks.