Serious shortcomings in Himachal Pradesh’s public procurement and tax administration systems have been flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG), with the audit also highlighting the poor financial health of state public sector enterprises (SPSEs). The findings point to weak monitoring, delayed recovery of govt dues and gaps in digital systems that is leading to revenue losses and anti-competitive practices.
The CAG report for the financial year ended March 2023, tabled on the concluding day of the monsoon session of the legislative assembly on Thursday, mentioned 14 of the state’s 30 SPSEs had accumulated losses of more than Rs 4,985 crore as of March 31, 2023. The net worth of nine enterprises had been completely eroded, leaving them with negative net worth.
The audit also found sub-optimal use of the state’s e-procurement system. Of 100 procuring entities examined, 16, including Dr Rajendra Prasad Govt Medical College at Tanda, the directorate of youth services and sports, the legislative assembly and Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration, had not used the portal since its inception. Another 15 entities had published fewer than 10 contracts by March 2023.
The auditors mentioned this limited use meant several red flags were neither detected nor acted upon, underlining the need for integrated fraud-detection tools. Audit analytics also identified potential indicators of collusion and bid-rigging, including tenders awarded at inflated rates or to non-L1 bidders, splitting of tenders to avoid threshold-based scrutiny and multiple bids originating from identical or departmental internet protocol (IP) addresses within short intervals.
The audit further detected anomalies in the e-way bill system. A test-check of 120 e-way bills involving 45 taxpayers found that nine taxpayers had claimed input tax credit (ITC) of Rs 335 crore against inward supplies, while the credit available according to GSTR-2A was only Rs 314 crore. This resulted in excess ITC of more than Rs 20 crore and a corresponding revenue loss.
The report also flagged delays in GST recovery. In 256 cases, demand orders for Rs 49 crore were issued during 2020-21, but only over Rs 2 crore was recovered in 75 cases. Additionally, 323 taxpayers reported nil taxable turnover despite claiming tax deduction at source (TDS) through 569 returns, indicating probable suppression of Rs 121 crore in taxable turnover and an estimated GST liability of more than Rs 21 crore which comes to 18%.
Source from: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshowprint/133744821.cms
