PANAJI
The scale of the scam in the Excise Department could be much larger than anticipated. It will have to tackle another set of allegations, this time emerging from the government’s own records.
Commissioner Narayan Gad just last week formed a team to conduct an audit of all excise stations in 11 talukas but records about five talukas already show that license renewals were not carried out over six financial years.
The heavily populated tourist belt of Bardez is among those five where more than 1,000 liquor licenses were not renewed between the financial years 2014-15 to 2019-20.
According to a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report 2020, the performance audit on the collection and levy of excise revenue indicates a shortfall of a whopping Rs 7.59 crore across these five talukas -- Tiswadi, Bardez, Ponda, Salcete, and Mormugao.
“The audit discovered that out of the 9,188 licenses in the five selected excise stations, 1,275 licenses had not been renewed for the periods ranging from 2014-15 to 2019-20,” reads the report.
The CAG also expressed dissatisfaction with the Excise Department’s lack of internal control at the primary level for granting and renewing licenses. It pointed out the failed mechanism by the officials concerned.
“The existing internal control mechanism was not enforced by the excise inspectors, resulting in a shortfall of excise revenue amounting to Rs 7.59 crore in the five selected excise stations during this period. Manufacturing units failing to submit export verification certificates for liquor exports were not addressed for over five years,” it said.
According to Rule 91 of the Goa Daman and Diu (Excise Duty) Rules, 1964, the excise inspector must issue notices, as prescribed by the Commissioner, to those licensed vendors who have not submitted their renewal applications on time within eight days of the license’s expiration.
If the licensed vendor, who has been served a notice, fails to apply for renewal within the specified timeframe, their license will be automatically cancelled. The Rule empowers the department to grant licenses for one financial year, which must be renewed annually.
Although the CAG exposed these irregularities, no action is reportedly taken so far. The revelation come at a time when the department is already left red-faced owing to the misappropriation of funds and forgery by some officials in the Pernem excise station, which has resulted in a loss of Rs 2 crore approx.
The department is however downplaying the loss and has recovered around Rs 28 lakh from the alleged mastermind and now-suspended staff Harish Naik.
A sustained campaign by The Goan, followed by government intervention to rectify the situation, has resulted in the suspension of Upper Division Clerk Harish Naik, Inspector Vibhuti Shetye (Pernem), and Durgesh Naik (Tiswadi). Inquiries are underway sans police complaint.
