Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report has said that the Directorate of Mines and Geology failed (DMG) failed to ensure collection of royalty for extraction and sale of sand.
“The Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) failed to ensure collection of royalty for extraction and sale of sand. This resulted in extraction and sale of sand by 55 permit holders without payment of royalty,” the CAG report states
Further, the DMG had no information on quantity of sand extracted by another 144 permit holders.
The report further states that audit scrutiny (August 2018) of records of the DMG revealed that there are 332 permit holders in existence as on May 2018. Of this 56 permit holders remitted advance royalty by purchase of pass books worth 13.88 lakh76 and remaining 276 permit holders had not purchased pass books indicating these permit holders had not extracted any sand.
“On verification of the monthly returns submitted by the permit holders, Audit observed that 55 out of 276 permit holders had reported extraction and sale of sand totaling 16,363 cubic metre,” it states
Further, these permit holders had not purchased any pass books by payment of advance royalty of 13.63 lakh” indicating that these permit holders extracted and sold sand unauthorisedly.
“Of the remaining 221 permit holders 77 permit holders reported nil extraction and 144 permit holders did not submit monthly returns,” the CAG report states
The report states that non-scrutiny of returns submitted by the permit holders and slackness in enforcement and monitoring mechanism by the DMG has resulted in non-collection of royalty of 13.63 lakh.
“Besides interest recoverable under Rule 59 worked out to 7.63 lakh. In respect of 144 permit holders who did not submit monthly returns the DMG had not confirmed that these permit holders had not extracted and sold any sand,” it said
The DMG stated (August 2018) that the show cause notices have been issued to permit holders to obtain details of sand extractions and regular inspections are being carried out to check illegal transportation of sand and minor mineral. The DMG further stated (July 2019) that the process of recovery of advance royalty has been initiated.
“The reply is not tenable as the verification of monthly returns alone would have detected non-payment of advance royalty on extraction and transportation of sand by 55 permit holders. Thus, it is evident from the above fact that regular inspections conducted by the DMG was ineffective,” the report mentioned
