CAG report: Abnormal delays, avoidable expenditure by DTC

NEW DELHI: Whether it's the timely investment of a surplus amount in the employees provident fund trust or procuring monthly concession passes for commuting on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) seems to have been lagging behind consistently. That's the conclusion that the audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India makes clear, citing "abnormal" delays and avoidable expenditure that resulted in loss of public funds by the DTC.
The CAG report points out that the delay by the DTC to invest the surplus amount of Rs 144.45 crore in April 2006, when the EPF Trust needed merely Rs 10 crore per month for making its routine payments, by an entire month resulted in loss of interest to the public exchequer of Rs 50.09 lakh. The inability of the EPF Management to take prompt action in investing the surplus funds till May 2006, keeping the fund idle for another 28 days before actually investing Rs 125 crore with Oriental Bank of Commerce on May 29, 2006, was unnecessary delay. Says the CAG report, "Thus, the Trust suffered an interest loss of Rs 50.09 lakh for the period from April 21 to May 29, 2006 due to the failure of EPF Management in taking prompt decision on investment of the surplus funds."
That's not all. The failure of the DTC to procure monthly concession passes and instead, go in for daily single trip tickets for the buses plying on the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway, has also come in for severe criticism from the CAG. The report says that scrutiny of records revealed that the Corporation had not been availing the benefit of a 34 percent discount by obtaining concessional monthly passes for its buses though it had been plying its buses regularly on the Expressway. "The Corporation had paid total expressway charges of Rs 2.89 crore during January 2008 to December 2010 on per trip basis. Failure to obtain the monthly concessional asses by the Corporation for Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway has resulted in avoidable extra expenditure of Rs 0.98 crore during the period January 2008 to December 2010," says the report.
The CAG audit also indicts the DTC for non-recovery of Value Added Tax from scrap buyers in violation of the Delhi VAT Act 2004. The report points to the DTC selling scrap worth Rs 24.35 crore during April 1, 2005-March 31, 2010, VAT for which would ideally amount to Rs 0.97 crore at the applicable rate of four percent. However, DTC didn't recover this amount from its bidders, leading the CAG to say that the loss of Rs 0.97 crore to the state exchequer is besides "extending undue benefit to the private bidders".