SHILLONG: The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) stated that an amount of Rs 1.73 crore was due from the lessees of four weighbridges, which were allowed to be operated even after expiry of agreement and default on payment of due license fees.
The Transport Department entered into agreements with four lessees for operation of weighbridges at Ratacherra, Dawki, Nongdomprut and Borsora on payment of annual license fee between January 23, 2015 and September 22, 2016. As per the agreement the license fee had to be paid in monthly/quarterly installments within the seventh day of the succeeding months. In the event of failure to make timely payment, penalty of two per cent of the amount due would be levied. In case of further delay in payment of dues, the contract would be terminated.
The audit noticed that the license agreements in respect of three weighbridges (Ratacherra, Dawki and Borsora) expired in January 2016 and the one for the fourth weighbridge (Nongdomprut) expired in
September 2017. The lessees were allowed to continue operation of the weighbridges for an additional period of 3-4 months even after expiry of the contracts.
Further, audit also noticed that the licensees of Nongdomprut and Dawki had paid less licence fee. Against the total licence fee of Rs 71.35 lakh payable by the lessees they actually paid Rs 22.90 lakh only and there was a short payment of Rs 48.45 lakh. However, the lessee of Borsora had paid the entire fee.
Due to non-payment of licence fee, the Transport Department took control of weighbridges at Dawki on June 8, 2016 and Nongdomprut on December 14, 2017. The licensee for Ratacherra weighbridge cleared the dues for the annual license fee by paying a sum of Rs 1.82 crore on various dates between January 31, 2015 and December 6, 2016.
The lessee again applied for renewal of lease agreement with the department and it was renewed on January 9, 2017 for another year on annual licence fee of Rs 1.80 crore,. The agreement was again renewed with the lessee of Ratacherra weighbridge on January 9, 2018 for a period of three years on an annual licence fee of Rs 1.80 crore.
Demand notices for payment of outstanding licence fee were issued to the lessee of Dawki weighbridge in August 2015 and November 2016.
The lessee for Dawki weighbridge expressed her inability to clear the pending dues (February 2017) due to huge financial loss in running it. The Commissioner of Transport (CT) brought this to the notice of the state government in March 2017. The government directed the CT (May 2017) to file a civil suit against the lessee. The action taken by the CT was not found on record.
Action taken by the Department against the lessee for Nongdomprut weighbridge was also not found on record.
Thus, due to delay in taking action for operation of weighbridges beyond the agreement period, the Department extended undue benefit to the private weighbridge lessees. The cases of operation of weighbridges after expiry of licence period were reported to the Transport Department in October 2018.
The CT in his reply stated (January 2019) that the weighbridges could not have been taken over by the Department on expiry of the licenses, since these were required to keep a check on permissible load by the truckers. The CT further stated that the license fee payable for the interim period was accounted during the renewal of the weighbridge licenses.
The argument that weighbridges could not have been taken over by the Department on expiry of the license period was not tenable, as the weighbridges were eventually taken over by it and operated departmentally. As regards payment of proportional license fee for the interim period at the time of renewal, the licenses in respect of two weighbridges were not renewed subsequently. No action to calculate the liability of the licensees for the proportional license fee or the proof, that it had been collected, was communicated to Audit by the CT (June 2019).
The case was referred to the Transport Department in October 2018. The Department in its reply (January 2019) confirmed the outstanding amount for the weighbridge lessees. However, the action taken by the CT to recover the due amount was not communicated to Audit (June 2019).
Thus the lessees of Ratacherra, Nongdomprut and Dawki weighbridges were liable to pay license fee of Rs 1.73 crore to the government.
Audit noticed failure of the CT to detect irregularities in operation of four weighbridges lessees out of 19 weighbridges in the state on verification of records. The CAG asserted that the department should look into similar issues in respect of other weighbridges also.
The CAG recommended that government should fix the responsibility on the official concerned for extending the undue financial benefits to the lessees of the weighbridges and to initiate action to recover the license fee along with the interest from the lessees.