91,477 vehicles running without tax: CAG flags major revenue losses in Kerala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The previous government failed to collect substantial revenue despite Kerala facing a financial crunch, resulting in major losses to the state exchequer, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has observed in its latest report.

The findings are part of the audit report for the year 2024-25. The report said that although modern systems are available for collecting motor vehicle tax, the process is still being carried out manually. Tax collection is based mainly on statements submitted by vehicle owners.

The CAG also pointed out that green tax is not being collected despite being introduced. Due to this, 91,477 expired vehicles are still operating on roads without paying the required taxes. Among these are 344 vehicles involved in accidents that caused the deaths of 32 people in the state last year.

The report said that although there are 461 agencies providing rent-a-cab services in Kerala, only nine have obtained licences after paying the required fees. Similarly, only 1,620 contract carriage vehicles have valid permits. This has resulted in a loss of crores of rupees in revenue.

The enforcement wing also reported that despite having systems to check vehicles entering from places including Mahe, 110,720 litres of foreign liquor were transported without proper records.

The CAG report also highlighted losses in the registration department due to failures in collecting the correct fair value of land. Revenue losses occurred because of not using the available fair value under the main survey number, incorrect classification of land, and sale of subdivided properties.

The report stated that the Forest Department lost Rs 1.70 crore as the revised licence fee for land allotted for the Parambikulam-Aliyar project was not collected from the Tamil Nadu government. It also noted that failure to collect lease rent caused additional losses running into crores of rupees.