The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its latest report submitted to the Delhi government for the year ended March 31, 2023, has revealed significant financial discrepancies, systemic lapses, and "wasteful" expenditures within the administration.

While the city's revenue receipts showed robust growth, the audit highlights a staggering ₹70,410 crore in revenue arrears and critical failures in tax oversight, subsidy targeting, and procurement systems.

Revenue growth vs stagnant arrears

The Delhi government's total revenue receipts for 2022-23 reached ₹62,703 crore, a 27.15% increase over the previous year. This growth was driven by a ₹7,344 crore rise in own tax revenue and a 74.31% jump in Grants-in-Aid from the central government.

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However, the CAG flagged a massive accumulation of revenue arrears totaling ₹70,410 crore as of March 2023, with 65% of these dues outstanding for more than five years.

Furthermore, the audit noted a concerning lack of cooperation, with the Department of Trade and Taxes failing to produce records for 61.11% of dealers requisitioned for scrutiny.

GST and E-Way bill discrepancies

A performance audit of the E-Way Bill (EWB) system and GST payments exposed widespread non-compliance.

Key findings include:

* Tax Liability Mismatches: Audit analysis identified 344 cases of non-compliance with a revenue implication of ₹3,071.92 crore and a turnover mismatch of ₹3,710.17 crore.

* E-Way Bill Lapses: Significant revenue was lost due to EWBs generated by "nil" filers (₹4.68 crore liability), non-filers (₹31.46 crore liability), and even 8,334 cancelled taxpayers who generated bills involving a money value of ₹68,680.88 crore.

* Suspicious Transport: The audit found 18 EWBs generated using "suspicious vehicles," including those listed as stolen, scrapped, or blacklisted.* Input Tax Credit (ITC) Fraud: Three taxpayers alone claimed ₹9.70 crore in excess ITC beyond what was available in their records.

The electricity subsidy ‘Inverted Pyramid’

The CAG criticized the GNCTD’s administration of power subsidies, which grew from ₹2,405.59 crore in 2019-20 to ₹3,161 crore in 2022-23. The report labeled the policy "inverted," noting that higher-consumption domestic users received a 70% higher average annual subsidy per connection (over ₹10,000) than those in lower brackets (₹6,000).

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Additionally, the audit found that ₹42.26 crore was granted as subsidy to inactive or dormant connections showing zero consumption for months, a practice termed "wasteful". Meanwhile, unrecovered power costs have led to ₹27,200.37 crore in "Regulatory Assets," creating a massive future liability for the state and consumers.

E-procurement and infrastructure failures

The implementation of the e-procurement system was found to be riddled with security risks and manual bypasses.

The audit revealed that:

* The system allowed 66 bidders to register without mandatory PAN numbers.

* Multiple bidders used the same email IDs and IP addresses, raising suspicions of collusion and cover bidding.

* Over 1,185 tenders were floated manually or offline, bypassing the transparent e-procurement portal entirely.

* In the industrial sector, the DSIIDC incurred an unfruitful expenditure of ₹29.45 crore on 81.42 acres of land at Baprola that has remained unutilized for 18 years due to "indecision".

Recruitment and public works blunders

The report highlighted several instances of "avoidable" and "wasteful" spending:

* DSSSB: Incurred a wasteful expenditure of ₹1.05 crore to conduct an exam for Junior Engineer posts that the Delhi Jal Board had already abolished and withdrawn.

* Public Works: Errors in estimating dewatering quantities for a hospital project led to an avoidable payment of ₹5.63 crore at market rates.

* Transport: The DTC EPF Trust failed to timely invest surplus funds, resulting in a potential interest loss of ₹5.50 crore.

The CAG has recommended that the government urgently pursue the identified mismatches, introduce Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for subsidies to ensure they reach the needy, and strengthen validation controls in its digital procurement and tax systems to prevent revenue leakage.