Kolkata: Refuting Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s allegation that Bengal had not sent GST compensation cess claim with Accountant General (AG) Certificate since the 2017-18 fiscal till 2021-22, the state government on Friday alleged that if net revenue is considered, then the Centre owes Rs 2,409.96 crore as GST compensation dues since 2019 till June 30, 2022. According to the state government, the GST compensation dues (on a net basis) are for the periods FY 2019-20, FY 2020-21, FY 2021-22 and from April 1, 2022, to June 30, 2022.
The state claimed that the compensation has been paid on a net basis for only two fiscals — 2017-18 and 2018-19. In an official statement, the state government claimed that for FY 2019-20, FY 2020-21, FY 2021-22 and the period between April 1, 2022, and June 30, 2022 compensation had been released based on gross revenue.
The state government also claimed that GST Compensation Cess Claim with AG certificate was not a mandatory criterion for the release of funds. “It is an option for the contractors or agencies to claim, but none of the contractors or agencies have submitted any such claim as per the format of MoRD, hence it could not be sent,” it added.
The compensation amount is calculated on the basis of actual shortfall in actual revenue (i.e. gross revenue minus refund) over the protected revenue. Since the finalisation of accounts is done by the AG office after the end of the financial year, initially, the compensation is calculated on gross revenue and not on the net revenue.
It is only after the finalisation of accounts that the AG determines the actual gap between the protected revenue and actual revenue and then the Centre releases the due compensation on net basis, if any.
Sitharaman had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on Friday. She had further claimed that Bengal owes Rs 1,841 crore to the Centre for deployment of CrPF in the state. Declining such allegations, the state government maintained that the expenditure related to the deployment of CAPF personnel for election duty should be borne by the Government of India and not by the states.
“Central Paramilitary Forces (CAPF) are deployed by the Home Ministry for conduct of elections to the Lok Sabha and to the State Legislative Assembly. The forces are deployed as per the instructions of the Election Commission of India. The consent of the state government is not taken regarding the need for deployment of Central forces during these elections,” the statement from the state government read.
It further explained that the expenditure related to deployment of the Central forces in Left Wing Extremism-affected areas, which is a national issue, should be borne by the Centre.
The Finance minister had also added that a reconciliation report from the Bengal government was awaited in respect of the Gram Sadak Yojana (GSY). To this, the state government responded by stating that Financial Reconciliation of funds released to Bengal under PMGSY-I & II in prescribed format was first submitted to the Ministry of Rural Development on June 18, 2021.
“Thereafter, as requested by MoRD, the revised reconciliation statement (Format-1
& Format-2) under PMGSY-I & II was furnished on September 27, 2022,” the state government cited, adding that “no further query has been raised till date by MoRD against this report”.