Second Report of Committee on Public Accounts presented to Parliament

The Second Report of the Committee on Public Accounts which contains information on 16 investigations carried out by the Committee was presented to the Parliament yesterday by its Chairman Prof. Tissa Vitharana.

The report focuses on the current status of the Muthurajawela wetland and human-elephant conflict among several other areas.

The committee also stated that authorities should look at a mixed system that suits each area in dealing with the human-elephant conflict.

The committee report points out that the method of constructing the fences around the village proposed by Dr. Prithiviraj Fernando is a method that has been successful at present and that it is important to obtain the financial contribution of the villagers for the maintenance of this fence and thereby motivating them to protect it.

The committee report also observes that despite spending more than 10% of Government revenue annually on education, some school children do not receive a quality education. It points out that there is a severe disparity in the distribution of resources in the field of education in the country and there is a need to take immediate action to eliminate this situation.

The committee report also says that during the customs investigation on the importation of coal required for Norochcholai Thermal Power Plant, it was observed that a penalty of Rs. 205 million had been imposed and recovered.

The Government had lost Rs. 125.5 million due to the fact that VAT has been levied as a penalty instead of being levied as an additional tax.

The report states that out of the computer programs of the Inland Revenue Department in this regard, the amount of tax in arrears pertaining to the institutions identified with respect to the legacy system as of 30 March is Rs. 18 billion. Out of this amount, only Rs. 424 million has been recovered in cash.

The Committee report also states that according to the RAMIS system of the Inland Revenue Department, the tax in arrears on that day was Rs. 87 billion. Of this amount, only Rs. 4 billion had been recovered in cash.

It also pointed out the need for a National Education Policy to address this issue as the unemployment rate of graduates in university faculties is increasing.

The Committee on Public Accounts consists of 22 Government and  Opposition members.