BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha State Civil Supplies Corporation (OSCSC) Ltd has urged the State government to waive off interest and penalty for late deposit of tax under VAT. The Corporation, which is a ‘no loss no profit’ making State government undertaking, has written to Finance department seeking complete waiver of interest and penalty from April 2013 to August 2015.
Sources said the Corporation had delayed deposit of monthly VAT amount for which Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Tax, Bhubaneswar (Circle IV) had imposed interest and penalty for the period.
“The Corporation has challenged the order of the assessment before the Odisha Sales Tax Tribunal, Cuttack. Since the entire share capital of OSCSC Ltd is contributed by the State government, imposing interest and penalty will be an additional burden,” stated the letter to Principal Secretary of Finance department.
The State has 2,500 primary agriculture societies which procure paddy from about 12 lakh farmers through around 3,000 mandis. The procurement centres are located in remote areas. The VAT deposit was, however, delayed due to late arrival of procurement data from the mandis.
The Corporation has submitted a proposal to waive off Rs 1.26 crore charged during the period. It has already deposited VAT of Rs 283.27 crore, Rs 329.31 crore and Rs 411.97 crore in three years from 2012-13 to 2014-15.
Meanwhile, the Corporation has allowed districts to continue lifting of wheat for the month of December 2021 and January 2022 up to January 15 and January 31 respectively as the distribution will start from January 16.