A total of 35,262 sales tax assessment records from 76 offices were not made available for audit during 2017-18, said a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India tabled in theAssembly on Wednesday.
During 2017-18, a total of 2,10,109 sales tax assessment records were called for in 83 offices, out of which 35,262 records in 76 offices were not made available for audit.
“The non-production of assessment records is a serious lapse on the part of the executive authorities thereby defeating the very purpose of audit as it also hinders the discharge of duties of the CAG as enshrined in the Constitution,” it said.
The delay in the production of records for audit would render the audit scrutiny ineffective, as rectification of under-assessment, if any, might become time-barred, by the time these files are produced to audit, it said. The matter regarding the non-production of records in each office and arrears in assessment was brought to the notice of the department through the local audit reports of the respective offices, it added.
