(a) whether the Secondary and Higher Education cess is collected;
(b) if so, the amount of cess collected till date, year-wise along with the year since when this cess is being collected;
(c) whether this cess has been transferred to the relevant Fund and if so, the details thereof; and
(d) whether there is any audit observation by the Government for procedural lapse in this regard and if so, the details thereof?
MINSTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE
(SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR)
(a) & (b): No Sir, secondary and higher education cess is not collected now. However, the Secondary and Higher Education cess was collected since Financial Year 2007-08 to 2017-18. The details of the Secondary and Higher Education collection on direct & indirect taxes is as under:-
(Rs. in Crore)
Financial Year Direct Tax Indirect Tax
2007-08 2978.90 7411.82
2008-09 3197.32 7331.91
2009-10 3533.45 8028.61
2010-11 4242.93 11413.27
2011-12 4821.45 12729.18
2012-13 5268.65 14759.66
2013-14 6016.28 15223.03
2014-15 6594.81 16183.97
2015-16 6943.10 6873.1
2016-17 7967.42 5983.82
2017-18 9390.92 3071.11
(c ) & (d): As per the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the Year 2017-18 on the Union Government Accounts the following observations has been made on Secondary and Higher Education Cess.
The Cess was levied in 2006-07 and Rs. 94,036 Crore has been collected so far. The Cess is being retained in the CFI contrary to the procedure, though a Fund (Madhyamik and Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh ) for this purpose was created in August 2017, and has not been operationalised so far. This issue has been reported regularly in previous CAG Reports''
It is mentioned that, the cabinet has approved creation of Madhyamik and Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh on 16.08.2017. The allocation through Madhyamik and Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh under Department of Higher Education and Department of School Education & Literacy in FY 2018-19 and FY 2019-20 is given as below:-
(Rs. in Crore)
Financial Year Department of Higher Education Department of School Education & Literacy
2018-19 7690.52 4141.05
2019-20 9399.03 5061.02
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