Under assessment, irregular claims of exemption and other shortcomings in tax collection system of Delhi Government have caused a loss of over Rs 2,300 crore to the exchequer in 2011-12, the Comptroller and Auditor General said in a report.
Slamming the Government for the lacunae in the revenue collection system, the national auditor recommended bringing transparency in tax collection so that such losses can be avoided.
"Irregular claim of exemption/concessional rate of tax without furnishing proper statutory forms resulted in short payment of tax of Rs 2310.14 crore including interest of Rs404.30 crore," the CAG said in the report which was tabled in Delhi Assembly today, the last day of the budget session.
Citing loopholes in tax collection system, it said application of incorrect rate of tax resulted in short payment of tax to the tune of Rs 1.69 crore while excess claim of input tax credit resulted in short payment of tax of Rs 8.08 crore including interest of Rs 1.27 crore and penalty of Rs 3.40 crore in 2011-12
"Irregular adjustment of tax credit on account of purchase of second hand goods resulted in short payment of tax of Rs 1.19 crore including interest of Rs 19.59 lakh and penalty of Rs 49.56 lakh," it said.
Giving another example of lacunae in tax collection system, it said payment of taxes by 304 cable TV operators in three districts were checked by the audit teams in which it was found that 123 (39 per cent) operators did not pay the tax during last three years and 175 (58 per cent) operators failed to pay tax amounting to Rs one crore.
"The (Tax) department failed to recover the interest worth Rs 4.89 crore from DTH service providers on delayed deposit of tax. The department failed to pursue the arrears of entertainment tax of Rs 1.26 crore from 12 cinema hall owners and luxury tax amounting to Rs 9.76 crore from hoteliers," the report said.
It said non levy of appropriate taxes on total collection by six hotels on renting out banquet or conference halls caused a loss of Rs 5.99 crore.
On collection of stamp duty and registration fee, the CAG said short levy of stamp duty and Registration fee on built up area in car parking/stilt parking, resulted in short payment of stamp duty of Rs 12.76 lakh in 2011-12 while non implementation of the prescribed rates for buildings having more than four storey, resulted in short payment of stamp duty of Rs 1.08 crore.
The CAG also slammed Delhi Transco Ltd, a Delhi government company in-charge of major power transmission lines, for not being able to recover an amount of Rs 754.83 crore as transmission charge from BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd.
Critical of Delhi Jal Board's functioning, the CAG said the agency could not prepare any perspective plan for sewage management during 11th Five Year Plan and could collect and treat only 367 MGD (54 per cent) out of 680 MGD of sewage generated in Delhi. The remaining sewage is discharged untreated into Yamuna River, it said.
"The drinking water was not being distributed equitably amongst the population due to lack of reliable data on population and water supplied to different areas," it said
"Metering of water at consumer end was not comprehensive due to which, less than 40 per cent of water produced was billed during last three years," it added.
On implementation of projects under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the auditor said the city Government could not utilise Rs 196.88 crore out of total grant of Rs 2823.18 crore.
"Construction of 44,720 Dwelling Units had to be dropped due to non-availability of hindrance free sites. Only 85 out of completed 10,684 DUs could be allotted to the beneficiaries," it said.
The auditor said delay in taking decisions by the Government escalated the cost of construction of Signature bridge on river Yamuna by Rs 672 crore.
On functioning of health department, the report said the patient care at emergency units of the hospitals were affected due to lack of essential equipment, medicines and adequate staff. "Numbers of beds, necessary equipment, patient trolleys were not commensurate with the number of patients that the hospitals have to attend daily."
"All the test checked hospitals were lacking in facility for purified and clean drinking water.
"The GTB and LNJP hospitals have been using ambulances, mainly for miscellaneous purposes instead for the patients, and the ambulances were not equipped with essential equipment for basic life support system," it said.
On functioning of police, the CAG said most of the funds earmarked for modernisation of Communication Branch of Delhi Police were not utilised.
"Physical implementation of Intelligent Traffic System could not be started as of March 2012 due to deficient planning, thereby, depriving users of benefit of world class traffic system in Delhi, apart from unfruitful expenditure of Rs 7.50 crore," it said.