The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found that during the period 2018-2022, nearly 70 per cent of the electricity tax collected by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Ltd (Tangedco) was not credited to the Government Accounts were retained with Tangedco.

In 2018-2022, Tangedco collected ₹5,039 crore as electricity tax from consumers but remitted only ₹740 crore and the government adjusted ₹772 crore out of the payments due to Tangedco. After the remittance and adjustments, the amount of electricity tax collected but not remitted into the consolidated fund as of March 31, 2022, stood at ₹3,527 crore. This has contributed to the revenue deficit of the state government.

Such non-remittance to the government account and retaining the collected tax for such a long period is “fraught with the risk of temporary misappropriation.” This calls for fixing the responsibility of the officials concerned of both the government and Tangedco, the State Finances Audit Report of the CAG tabled for the year ended March 2022 in the State Assembly on Friday said.

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Non-realisation of the due to the government account is one of the contributing factors to the Revenue Deficit of the State government, the audit said.

The State government has not made it mandatory to remit the tax amount at periodical intervals and adjustments were also not being carried out regularly. The amount deposited into the government account by Tangedco was the adjustments against the loan receipts. Had the outstanding amount of ₹1,387 crore been credited in the government accounts during 2021-22.

The Auditor said that subsidies consumed 10.45 per cent of the State’s revenue receipts. Total subsidies decreased to ₹32,998 crore from ₹36,682 crore. Explicit subsidies decreased by 13.62 per cent from ₹25,110 crore in 2020-21 to ₹21,689 crore in 2021-22.

Implicit subsidies in the form of marriage assistance, maternity assistance and free supply of laptops marginally decreased to ₹263 crore during 2021-22 over the previous year. This amount was wrongly classified as grants-in-aid instead of subsidies, the audit said.

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