CAG’s Bihar report for 2023 flags revenue arrears to government

Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) The report for the period ended March 31, 2023, presented in the Bihar Legislative Assembly on Thursday, February 26, 2026, contains a detailed description of the outstanding revenue arrears to the government of ₹ 4,884.86 crore as on that date; of this, ₹1,430.32 crore has been outstanding for over five years. The report also stated that there was a “mismatch” in TDS/TCS tax liability of ₹64.91 crore in 12 cases of eight taxpayers in seven circles.

“The total revenues of the Government of Bihar for the year 2022-2023 amounted to ₹ 1,72,688.02 crore, of which the revenue from the state government from its own sources was ₹ 48,152.63 crore. The share of revenues from the government of India amounted to ₹ 1,24,535.39 crore (72.12% of the total) presented in the House on Thursday, February 26 “Arrears of revenues for revenue officers as of March 31, 2023 amounted to ₹ 4,884.86 crore, of which ₹ 1,430.32 crore remained outstanding for more than five years,” the C&AG report said.

The C&AG report categorized the debts according to various departments. In the audit report, it was stated that the Department of Mining and Geology had not provided detailed information about these dues for more than five years.

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The report also highlighted that there was “TDS/TCS (Tax Deducted and Tax Collected at Source) tax liability mismatch of ₹64.91 crore in 12 cases of eight taxpayers in seven circles.” Further, the report said, “non-compliance with ministerial directions for carrying out road, education, health and agriculture deductions by the concerned DLAOs (District Land Acquisition Offices) has resulted in a shortfall of ₹ 1.15 crore in waste collection.”

Similarly, according to the C&AG report, Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited “incurred an unproductive expenditure of ₹ 5.35 crore for the construction of an incomplete bridge due to its disregard of mandatory compliance requirements of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958, during project planning.”

“The total of under-assessment/short-tax/loss of revenue was ₹4,719.19 crore in 1,764 cases. The concerned departments admitted under-assessment and other deficiencies amounting to ₹23.09 crore in 263 cases, noted in previous years, and reported recovery of ₹1.57 crore in 82 cases,” the report said, adding: “twenty registration authorities, 42 failed to detect undervaluation of land in the instrument, resulting in undervaluation of property/instrument and consequent imposition of Stamp Duty and Registration Fee of ₹4.45 crore for a short time”.

“Out of 37 operating Public Sector Enterprises (SPSEs), 13 incurred losses as per their last finalized accounts for 2022-2023. As of March 2023, there were 14 SPSEs with accumulated losses of ₹ 27,307.96 crore. The net worth of 10 of these 14 SPSEs had been completely eroded due to accumulated losses and their net worth was negative as per the latest data. As on March 31, 2023 finalized accounts as on date,” the report further stated, “Bihar State Education Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, due to its incomplete approach, failed to properly monitor the renewal and failed to verify the authenticity of the Bank Guarantees submitted, resulting in an undue favor of ₹ 94.25 lakh to the contractors.”

“Implementation of Mukhyamantri Kshetra Vikas Yojana (MKVY) in all 13 tested divisions of the Local Area Engineering Organization (LAEO) left 28% to 59% of the total funds available unused, leading to unspent balances in the respective Personal Ledger accounts,” the report added. “Bihar Local Area Development Agency (BLAFDA) has not prepared any model design and estimates even though it is required for execution of works under MKVY,” he said.

Similarly, the report also stated that “Significantly less spending was spent on Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities, which affected awareness activities among beneficiaries and led to low level of verification of targeted beneficiaries.”