At a time when the Kochi Corporation is struggling to pay its bills, the civic body is throwing away a significant part of its revenue, uncollected.
A huge amount, which would have made a major impact on the balance sheet of the corporation, in the form of rentals, property tax, profession tax, advertisement tax, and fees remains uncollected, according to the annual report of the Local Fund Audit Department.
The 2016-17 report, which reached the civic authorities a few weeks ago, lists out various heads and amounts that are due to the corporation, besides highlighting loopholes in the system.
What worries the auditors is Section 539 of the Kerala Municipalities Act, which says that any arrears due for more than three years should be deemed as lapsed, and the civic body cannot legally recover them.
A whopping ₹16.88 crore is due to the corporation in the form of property tax. The absence of demand and arrears registers makes computation of outstanding amount all the more difficult. This year, the civic body is expected to realise ₹57.14 crore under this head, said auditors.
The leaky revenue collection has proved costly for the civic body with ₹48.14 lakh due in terms of profession tax. The projected income under this head is ₹3.11 crore for the current fiscal. While rummaging through documents pertaining to profession tax, auditors found out that the list of traders in the city was incomplete and not up-to-date.
The civic body should have a complete list of commercial and industrial units, employees, professionals, and marketing offices functioning within its territory. The list should be updated every six months and taxes collected accordingly, the report said.
A large number of lessees of the corporation seemed to have skipped paying rentals for the properties they had taken on lease as over ₹26 lakh remains uncollected. The absence of a bylaw to govern the renting out of properties compounded the situation, it was pointed out.
The mushrooming of unauthorised publicity materials and hoardings is also eating into the revenue of the civic body. Moreover, the delay in collecting arrears and restricting unauthorised materials were highlighted in the report.
The tendency of the civic administration to allow services and permits without collecting fee, is also accounted for revenue loss, the report pointed out.