Recovery of Rs 28,258 cr revenue arrears pending in Kerala: CAG

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's revenue collection had decreased by 10 per cent in 2021-22 from what it was in 2017-18, while the receipts from the Centre had increased, a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has stated.

The revenue arrears to be collected from various departments has increased to Rs 28,258 crore till March 2022. This is around 25 per cent of the state's total income.

The report, tabled in the assembly on Thursday, said that during the year 2021-22, the revenue collected by the state government decreased to 59 per cent from 69 per cent in 2017-18.

At the same time, the receipts from the Centre increased to 41 per cent that year from the 31 per cent in 2017-18, it said.

The report also said that even though the revenue raised by the state government during the year 2021-22 shows an increase from the previous year of 2020-21, the percentage of revenue raised by it to total revenue receipts has reduced when compared with that of 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 financial years.

"The revenue receipts of the state increased by Rs 19,023.41 crore during 2021-22, compared to 2020-21. This was mainly due to an increase in own tax revenue by Rs 10,679.68 crore followed by the state's share of union taxes and duties by Rs 6,259.69 crore," it said.

The non-tax revenue of the state saw an increase in 2021-22 mainly due to the increase in the receipts under the head state lotteries by Rs 2,261.92 crore, the report said. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection also increased from Rs 20,028.31 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 24,169.81 crore in 2021-22 due to an increase in sales turnover of goods and services, it said.

However, that same year, the revenue collection under the State Excise decreased by Rs 489.17 crore from Rs 2,521.40 crore in 2018-19 (pre-Covid period) to Rs 2,032.23 crore. Furthermore, the report also found arrears totalling Rs 28,258.39 crore that year which amounted to 24.23 per cent of the total revenue of the state.

"This necessitates urgent intervention from the government to clear the outstanding arrears. The arrear figures are furnished by the departments every year only at the instance of audit. "The absence of prompt reporting of arrears to Revenue Department and tardy pursuance by the departments concerned for realising the arrears are the main reasons for the huge pendency of arrears," the CAG report said.

Besides that, the growth rate of revenue collection under Land Revenue also saw a sharp decline from 48.41 per cent in 2020-21 to (-) 4.56 per cent in 2021-22, it said.

Pending arrears to be recovered

GST

Rs 13,410 cr

Interest

Rs 5.979.91cr

Electricity

Rs 3,118.50cr

Motor Vehicles

Rs 2,868.47cr

Land tax

Rs 635.19cr

Land registration

Rs 590.86cr