CAG finds Rs 160 crore losses in government departments

The Comptroller and Auditor General on Monday flagged irregularities of about Rs160 crore, including loss of revenue and under-assessment of taxes, in various departments of the Delhi government in the 2014-15 fiscal year. “Test check of the records of 74 units of the department of trade and taxes, state excise, transport and revenue conducted during 2014-15 revealed under-assessment/short levy/loss of revenue and other irregularities involving Rs 159.57 crore in 506 cases,” said the CAG report on the Government of NCT of Delhi for the year ending March 2015.

During the course of the year, the CAG said the departments concerned accepted under-assessment and other deficiencies of Rs 1.45 crore and recovered an amount of Rs 4.68 lakh, that was pointed out in the audit during 2014-15. The report tabled in the Delhi Assembly covers the activities of revenue and social and economic sectors and social, general and economic sectors.

The current AAP government, led by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, was in power in the state only for a small duration of the period under the CAG review. The total revenue receipts of the Delhi government in 2014-15 were Rs 29,584.59 crore compared to Rs 27,980.69 crore in 2013-14.

Out of this, 92 per cent was raised through tax revenue (Rs 26,603.90 crore) and non-tax revenue (Rs 632.55 crore). The remaining eight per cent was received from the Central government as grants-in-aid (Rs 2,348.14 crore). The increase in tax revenue was 2.64 per cent and decrease in non-tax revenue was 4.03 per cent over the previous year, the report said.

Performance audit on system of assessment under VAT showed that 181 cases, each with annual gross turnover of Rs 5 crore and above, for 2009-10 and 2010-11, were not scrutinised and assessed and had become time-barred.

Ineffective monitoring of demand cases led to non-realisation of government dues worth Rs 512.05 crore, including Rs 214.98 crore due from dealers whose registrations had been cancelled. Further, system checks were not integrated to prevent issue of refunds to the dealers whose registrations have been cancelled and assessments were done subsequently.