The evidence clearly shows that most of these failures continued well into the post-2019 period, with unresolved inspection reports, recurring revenue leakages, and idle capital expenditure
The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) Report No 4 of 2025 on the Government of Goa, covering the period up to March 2023, presents a quantified record of governance deficiencies marked by weak financial controls, poor revenue enforcement, ineffective expenditure planning, and persistent noncompliance with audit requirements.
The present Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has been in office since March 2019. While the government may legitimately attribute some deficiencies to legacy systems and decisions taken before 2019, the audit evidence clearly shows that most of these failures continued well into the post-2019 period, with unresolved inspection reports, recurring revenue leakages, idle capital expenditure, and repeated non-compliance persisting until March 2023.
Therefore, this report shifts the focus from inherited problems to leadership responses. Responsibility at this stage is not about accepting blame for the past but about demonstrating control over the system. The persistence of 3,308 pending audit paragraphs, GST enforcement failures involving several hundred crores, continued idle expenditure and weak follow-up on audit findings all fall within the period of the present Chief Minister’s stewardship. The most fundamental failure identified by the audit was the State’s response to the audit itself. As of June 2023, 778 Inspection Reports comprising 3,308 audit paragraphs remained outstanding due to non-compliance.
In addition, 10 departments failed to submit Explanatory Memoranda for 15 audit paragraphs in Audit Reports from 2016–17 to 2020–21, despite the mandatory timelines prescribed by the Public Accounts Committee. This prolonged backlog reflects institutional disregard for legislative oversight rather than an episodic administrative delay. State finances expanded rapidly during the audit period. Total expenditure increased by 31.66 percent, from Rs14,842.08 crore in 2020–21 to Rs 19,541.24 crore in 2022–23. Revenue expenditure increased by 23.09 per cent, from Rs12,092.66 crore to Rs14,884.48 crore. Although the share of capital expenditure improved from 20 percent to 24 percent, the audit records multiple instances in which capital spending resulted in idle expenditure, delayed completion, and post-award changes to project scope, indicating weak project appraisal and execution rather than resource constraints.
A recurring pattern highlighted by the audit is the gap between budgetary provisions and implementation. In urban local bodies, between 50 and 92 percent of budgeted state grants for solid waste management during 2017–18 to 2021–22 remained unreleased. These savings arose not from efficiency gains but from municipalities› failure to submit proposals or implement sanctioned activities. Such unutilized allocations distort fiscal management and undermine outcome-based budgets. Revenue administration has emerged as a major area of concern. The Subject-Specific Compliance Audit on GST oversight identified 109 cases involving deviations of Rs157.99 crore under the centralized audit. A detailed audit of 15 taxpayers revealed non-compliance and mismatches totalling Rs 313.78 crore. This included Rs 195.61 crore of mismatch in Input Tax Credit between GSTR-2A and GSTR-3B returns, Rs 57.97 crore of ITC mismatch on import of goods, Rs 50.26 crore related to Input Service Distributor credits, and Rs 1.39 crore of mismatch in tax liability between returns. Non-filing of returns led to delayed or short payments of tax and interest in several cases.
The audit further records that in 44 cases, constituting 16.30 per cent of the total examined, departmental replies rejecting audit observations were unsupported by evidence and not amenable to verification, while 41 cases remained under examination without resolution. These figures point to weak enforcement, delayed risk mitigation, and reluctance to confront revenue leakages. Urban governance failure reflects the same structural weaknesses. Despite the notification of a State Solid Waste Management Policy in October 2018, none of the test-checked Urban Local Bodies had council-approved solid waste management plans within the prescribed timeframe. Across 14 urban local bodies, only 78 percent of the collected waste was treated on average between 2017-18 and 2021–22.
Treatment capacity shortfalls were severe: Margao Municipal Council collected approximately 35 tonnes per day of waste but operated a wet waste treatment facility with a capacity of only 5 tonnes per day. Financially, urban local bodies generated only Rs 42.22 crore in their own revenue from solid waste management, against Rs 258.15 crore in expenditure during 2017–18 to 2021–22, leaving a gap of Rs 210.32 crore, largely met through State and Central grants. The collection efficiency of sanitation charges ranged between 32 and 54 percent, while arrears rose steadily to Rs 21.05 crore by 2021–22 in the test-checked municipalities. Public sector financial management exhibits similar quantified deficiencies.
In EDC Limited, the audit identified defective loan appraisals, inadequate security, selective interest rate reductions, and excess waivers under One-Time Settlement cases. Recovery was weakened by the failure to pursue cases, even after favorable court decrees, and by the inadequate reporting of defaulters to credit information companies. Despite earning around Rs 250 crore in profits during the audit period, the EDC retained these funds without a strategic plan to deploy them in line with its mandate of supporting micro, small, and medium enterprises. In the industrial sector, poor project appraisal resulted in idle expenditure of Rs 70.45 crore on land acquisition that had become financially unviable, despite the indenting department seeking denotification.
Additionally, Rs 6.58 crore released under a centrally sponsored scheme was irregularly retained and parked in fixed deposits, while utilization certificates for Rs 6.12 crore were found to be misleading. Routine compliance failures further eroded state revenues. The Electricity Department failed to levy GST on meter rent from July 2017 to March 2023, resulting in the non-collection of Rs 10.55 crore, and failed to avail Rs10.63 crore of eligible input tax credit on the purchase of electricity meters. The audit implicitly outlines what corrective leadership requires: time-bound disposal of audit objections, linking budget approvals to compliance performance, strengthening revenue enforcement through measurable outcomes, and ensuring that public sector institutions deploy funds strictly in line with their mandates. The report’s statistics establish that Goa’s challenge is not a lack of resources but a lack of financial governance. After nearly five years in office during the audit period, the findings read less as a commentary on legacy and more as a test of whether governance correction will replace audit repetition.
(Dr Nandkumar M Kamat, who has a doctorate in microbiology, is a scientist and science writer.)
