Taxes worth Rs 58,636 crore are locked up in litigations in the Supreme Court and different High Courts, the government said today.

On the Direct Taxes sides, 5,860 cases involved tax demand worth Rs 2,707 crore were locked up in Supreme Court. Another 29,650 cases with tax demand of Rs 36,340 crore were pending in High Courts.

The information was provided by Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. 

As for indirect taxes, 2,855 cases involving Rs 8,130 crore were pending with the Supreme Court and 14,626 cases amounting to Rs 11,459 crore were lying in different High Courts, he said.

The Minister said that non-recovery of tax dues is mainly attributable to unavoidable processes in law including appellate remedies.

The main reason for non-realisation of unrecovered dues include pendency of decision on stay applications by Appellate Authorities, arrear recovery stayed by various Appellate Authorities and Courts.

In another reply, he said the Income Tax department will not reopen cases where tax assessment proceedings had been finalised and no notice has been sent before April 1, 2012.

Following retrospective amendment to the I-T Act, there were apprehensions in certain sections that the government may reopen the old cases. (PTI)