Bid to ‘reward’ tainted liquor firm

PATNA: Huge defalcation of commercial taxes on the sale of both country and spiced liquor made by a company has been detected by the state commercial taxes department. The defalcation has caused a revenue loss of over Rs 1 crore per month to the government under the head of commercial taxes alone for the last one and half years. This had been going on because of “blatant violation of tax calculation by the liquor manufacturing and distributing company�.The losses have accumulated to over Rs 18 crore in the last one and half years. The commercial taxes department has made a detailed inquiry into the tax evasion made on the “basis� of “wrong calculation� in the last one and half years by one K D Liquors and Fertilisers, which had been granted an ad hoc licence for the manufacturing and distribution of spiced and country liquor in the entire state. The department held the inquiry as the company made a “wrong claim� and filed a writ petition before the Patna High Court recently to justify the “so-called calculation of commercial taxes on the spiced and countrymade liquor after giving 20 per cent discount,� sources said. Later, it was detected that the company had been realising commercial taxes not on the maximum retail prices fixed by the state government, but on the amount after giving 20 per cent rebate to consumers on the liquor. The commissioner-cum-secretary of the commercial taxes department, on May 18 this year, wrote to the excise commissioner that the company had been evading commercial taxes of over Rs 1 crore per month after deducting price of 20 per cent as discount on the maximum retail price fixed by the state government. Even after such glaring instances of commercial tax evasion by the same company, the state excise department has initiated a move to extend the ad hoc licence of the company beyond May 31, 2002, though on temporary basis. The department, meanwhile, has also instructed its all mufassil offices to calculate commercial taxes on country and spiced liquor on the basis of maximum retail prices fixed by the government on both the country and spiced liquor.