Tax arrears of Rs 4 lakh cr locked up in litigations

Direct and indirect tax arrears of about Rs 4.60 lakh crore are locked up in litigations before various appellate bodies, the government said today.

While about Rs 57,702.12 crore is locked up in appeals with regard to indirect taxes, as far as direct taxes are concerned, it totals up to Rs 4,05,521 crore as on March 31, 2011, Minister of State for Finance SS Palanimanickam said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

He said the companies against whom departmental and judicial action was underway with regard to excise and customs duty, and service tax evasion included Bharat Petroleum (Rs 1,836.18 crore), Bharti Airtel (Rs 1,893.48 crore), Employees Provident Fund Org (Rs 2,808.12 crore), Hindustan Petroleum (Rs 1,786 crore) and IOC (Rs 2,969 crore) and Power Grid (Rs 1,185.79 crore).

"Steps being taken to expedite cases involving locked up revenue are as follows: seeking vacation of court orders, pursuing early hearing in matter involving significant revenue and timely follow up of pending cases before courts, filling up the post of member of Tribunal, introduction of new procedure in CESTAT to expedite the disposal of cases..., subject-wise clubbing of cases for hearing," he said.

The government is trying to avoid further litigations in matters involving small amount of revenue besides constituting a dedicated panel of counsels for defending the cases of department in high courts.

Also, the Ministry of Law is reviewing the process of handling of appeals in the Supreme Court, he added.