RTI Expose:Thousand crores Government Revenue not recovered but who cares?

On analysis of data furnished by most of the Customs , Excise Department from all over country it revealed that excise duty ,custom ,and service tax worth thousand crores is pending for recovery due to various reasons . In most of cases it is pending due to legal battle being fought in various tribunals/court like CESTAT, High Court, Supreme Court etc. for years. It is within the powers of excise officers to enforce the rule of law and collect the dues from defaulters within the parameters allowed under law. Section 11 of Central Excise law empowers excise officers to deduct any dues from any amount payable to the tax defaulters including attachment and sale of excisable goods. In case these methods fail then a concerned officer can sign a certificate giving the details of amount due and send it to the concerned collector to make the recovery from the defaulters by way of attaching the property of defaulters etc. Rule 230 of Excise law empowers designated officer to detain the goods / plant and machinery of the defaulters. under Section 13 arrest of the defaulters and under section 9 imprisonment up to 7 years can also be made under special circumstances.
When law permits law enforcement agencies to take stringent steps to recover the amount from the defaulters why recovery is not made even after the lapse of 1--15 years. Leniency shown to tax defaulters by department in recovering the tax dues smack some foul play which needs proper investigation. For cases of heavy value pending with courts for years with tribunals and courts Tax department may approach courts for quick disposal . For units which are closed and owners are untraceable special efforts should be made to recover tax dues. Photos of owners with their name etc. may be published in the newspapers.
It must be remembered that money which is pending for collection belongs to the citizens of this country and they need it urgently.
Information on pending amount of more than Rs. 5 lac was demanded from the Department of Revenue which forwarded the application to various commissioner ate under its control.
Some commissionerate furnished information honestly but some commissionerate avoided in doing so on the ground of commercial confidence. Some important facts brought out by these departments are as follows;
Under the column Current status it coolly stated " Not paying " or "under persuasive action". It is quite strange that when excise duty worth crores are pending and the department is only persuading the party to pay. Why stern action like attaching of property ,arrest of proprietors etc are not taken. In one case ( Sl.no.8) it is satisfied with the monthly installment of Rs 15000/- against the total due of Rs 17.66 lac. pending against renowned company Excide Industries. It is pending due to the fact that their stay application is pending with Commissioner Appeals.
Commissionerate: 110 cases of more than Rs 5 lacs valuing more Rs 15 crores are pending for recovery . Reasons given are many like units referred to BIFR , appeal in CESTAT, cases pending with COD etc.
Excise Commissionerate: 108 cases of more than Rs 5 lacs valuing more Rs 30 crores are pending for recovery . Reasons given are many like units referred to BIFR , appeal in CESTAT, cases pending with COD etc. Among prominent defaulters are IOC,Maharaja Home Appliances etc.
Even though department did not the specify the date since when amount is pending and address of the defaulters but it gave the list of 53 Excise Duty and list of 14 of Service Tax defaulters of value of Rs 5 lacs or more. In many cases it mentioned that units are closed but did not specify actions being taken to recover the amount after units are closed. Why Certificate action is not being taken to recover the dues.