ULBs not collecting necessary taxes: AG
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, July 31 2017:
Accountant General (Audit) D Jaisankar has underscored the need for the State Government to establish Property Tax Board so as to augment revenue of the State.
He was addressing newspersons in connection with the release of Annual Technical Inspection Report on Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies up to March 3l, 2016 at his Babupara office chamber today.
The Accountant General maintained that Property Tax Board is being implemented successful by urban local bodies in their respective States drawing huge revenues.
He asserted that there is an apparent need for the urban local bodies in the State to perform accordingly and implement by-laws effectively to facilitate augmentation of revenue of the State.
Despite having Manipur Municipality Act, 1994, the urban local bodies do not collect taxes, fees and fines which are main sources of revenue of a State, he said.
He said that as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance on utilisation of grants recommenderd by the 13th Finance Commission, the grants were to be utilised in four services sectors namely water supply, sewerage, solid waste and storm water drainage.
Test check of records of Kakching Municipal Council revealed that the municipality utilised Rs 16.30 lakh out of the fund received under the 13th Finance Commission on payment of salary of drivers, retirement benefits, sitting allowance and honorarium of elected and nominated members, purchase of furniture and on petrol and lubricants, he said referring to the audit report.
He claimed that the reasons for utilisation of the funds meant for development works towards administrative expenses of the municipality were called for in November 2016, however, no reply was received till March of this year.
The Accountant General also claimed that during the year 2015-16, Imphal Municipal Council could collect only Rs 11.64 lakh from 17 notified parking areas against the realisable amount of Rs 33.87 lakh.
According to him, the corporation suffered a loss of Rs 22.22 lakh due to its failure to collect revenue in time coupled with the non-availability of relevant by-laws to take appropriate action.
Examination of records revealed that during 2014-15, the corporation deducted Rs 15 lakh and Rs 2.83 lakh as VAT, and labour cess respectively at source from contractors for various development works.
The deducted amount was not remitted to the Government, he contended.
He noted that the urban local bodies continued to rely heavily on the State and Central Government grants for providing civic services.
Asserting that maintenance of all records needs to be ensured, he said that proper monitoring should be made by the State Government on the affairs and functioning of the urban local bodies.
The press meet was also attended by Senior Deputy Accountant General (Local Bodies) Dr N Maisnam and several top officials.
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