The Delhi Government suffered loss of revenue aggregating Rs.2,706.11 crore during 2011-12, the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has revealed. The amount was calculated from the test check of records of the Department of Trade and Taxes, State Excise and Entertainment, Transport and Revenue which showed an underassessment/short levy and loss of revenue in 1,655 cases.
“During 2011-12, the Departments concerned accepted underassessment and other deficiencies of Rs.19.14 crore in 1,028 cases which have been pointed out in the audit. Of these, the Departments recovered Rs.1.23 crore in 187 cases during 2011-12,” noted the report on ‘Revenue Sector, Social Sector and Economic Sector (PSUs)’’ for the year ended March 31, 2012.
The report also revealed that the total revenue receipts of the State Government during 2011-12 were Rs. 22,393.18 crore. Of the Rs. 20,432.54 crore raised by the State Government, Rs. 19,971.67 was tax revenue; Rs.460.87 crore was non-tax revenue and Rs. 1,960.64 were receipts from the Union Government.
The report further noted: “Irregular claim of exemption/concessional rate of tax without furnishing proper statutory forms resulted in short payment of tax of Rs. 2,310.14 crore including interest of Rs. 404.30 crore.” It also noted the failure of the department to collect tax and interest on belated payment from cable operators (amounting to Rs.1 crore), failure of the department to recover interest worth Rs. 4.89 crore from DTH service providers on delayed deposit of tax and failure to collect luxury tax amounting to Rs.9.76 crore from hoteliers.
The Delhi Integrated Multi Model Transit System Limited was also slammed in the report for not depositing advertisement revenue collected from Bus Queue Shelters on BRT corridors amounting to Rs. 8.93 crore in the Government account. Instead, the amount was adjusted against the expenses on operation and maintenance of the corridor, said the report.
Among the Delhi Government’s PSUs, profits were made by Delhi Transco Limited (Rs. 1005.33 crore), Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited (Rs. 397. 14 crore), Pragati Power Corporation Limited (Rs. 220.26 crore), Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (Rs.123.52 crore) and Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited (Rs. 20.86 crore). On the other hand, heavy losses were incurred by Delhi Transport Corporation (Rs.2335.13 crore) and Delhi Power Company Limited (Rs. 82.64 crore).
The losses were mainly attributable to deficiencies in planning, monitoring and implementation of projects and financial management, noted the report.
While the State has continuously shown an increasing trend in revenue surplus, it came down to Rs.4,428.31 crore in 2011-12. The report said major schemes that failed to take off or suffered due to non-utilisation of entire provision included grants-in-aid for municipal reforms (Rs.300.93 crore), equity for power stabilisation funds to DPCL (Rs.200 crore), special scheme for grant-in-aid to DJB for development of sewerage and water supply in the Assembly constituencies (Rs.70 crore), loan to MCD for construction of roads under JNNURM (Rs. 50.60 crore) and district and other road – other expenditure – Central Road Fund schemes (Rs. 50 crore).
