According to finance ministry sources, second in the list, Gujarat had 58,517 cases pending in appeals on the same date. Delhi and Uttar Pradesh were having 52,338 and 46,138 cases respectively in appeals. Tamil Nadu was next in the list with 42,172 cases followed by West Bengal with 35,473 cases and Rajasthan 28,298 cases.

The total amount of arrears relating to central excise and customs duties were Rs 3,017.61 crore and Rs 216.65 crore respectively on December 31, 1999.Incidentally, Maharashtra, heading the list of states in pending tax appeals, had maximum number of vacancy at the level of chief commissioners/commissioners with seven posts lying vacant. Tamil Nadu was second it terms of vacancy at the top level with 5 posts and West Bengal was next in the list with 4 vacant posts.

Delhi and Gujarat had 3 vacancies each at the level of chief commissioners/commissioners.

Sources said that the government was taking steps for quick disposal of cases and recovery of tax arrears. The steps include bunching of cases issue-wise or cases covered by earlier judgements of higher courts, special efforts to get the stay vacated by filing urgent petitions in the courts and periodical monitoring of cases.

The government has also sanctioned additional benches of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and has enhanced the monetary limit for appeals to be heard by a member of the tribunal singly. To strengthen the tax settlement machinery in indirect taxes, government has set up a customs and excise settlement commission in 1999.

Sources pointed out that the measures taken by the government to improve revenue collection included introduction of the new excise audit system to detect short payments and avoidance of duty.

Apart from surprise checks of production and clearances and rationalisation of tariff structure with simplification of rules, the revenue department has also embarked upon effective gathering of intelligence to check evasion of duty.