Delhi govt exceeded revenue surplus expectations even with low aid: CAG

NEW DELHI: Six companies of the Delhi government had accumulated losses of ₹31,874 crore of which 99.99% was suffered by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), the Delhi Transco Limited (DTL) and the Delhi Power Company Limited, read the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on state finances tabled in the Assembly on Monday.

The report for the year which ended on March 31, 2018, stated that the Delhi government has maintained a revenue surplus over the last five years, even as the Centre reduced its grants in aid to the city administration by around 23%. It also noted that tax revenue and non-tax revenue registered an increase of 14.70% and 101.05% respectively over the previous year.

The CAG also underlined “substantial delays” in submission of utilisation certificates (UCS) by various grantee institutions. “UCS should be obtained by the departmental officers from the grantees within 12 months of the closure of the financial year. However, 2,667 UCS for an aggregate amount of ₹6,953.64 crore in respect of the grants released up to March 31, 2017 were not furnished by the grantees as of March 31, 2018,” read the report, which was tabled by Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

The report said that the total expenditure during 2017-18 increased by 10.21% over the previous year. “Revenue expenditure, during 2017-18, was 86% of the total expenditure whereas capital expenditure and loans and advances were 8.26% and 5.73% respectively. The share of social and economic services in total expenditure, which represents development expenditure increased by 2.1% in 2017-18 over the previous year,” it read.

But, the CAG also pointed out that the Delhi government on many accounts had inaccurate assessment of funds required for its schemes and projects. “Supplementary grant amounting to ₹34.94 crore in 11 sub-heads was approved. However, the final expenditure was even less than the original grant in five cases while in six cases there was no expenditure from the supplementary provision defeating the intended purpose of supplementary grant,” it said. The auditor criticised the government for rushing to spend unspent funds only in the fiscal’s last quarter.