Tamil Nadu’s Local Fund Audit Department has released its consolidated audit report for 2024-25, flagging widespread financial irregularities across local bodies and universities, including the Greater Chennai Corporation and several municipalities.
The audit raised 1.82 lakh financial objections amounting to ₹6,770 crore. However, the report noted that only ₹1.28 crore was recovered, and pointed to instances of fund waste, administrative negligence and misappropriation.
The report estimated fund waste totalling about ₹163 crore, including ₹86.24 crore in local bodies, ₹43.82 crore in universities, ₹26.83 crore in district market committees and ₹6.12 crore in local planning bodies. In Chennai, it flagged contracts worth ₹20 crore awarded without open tenders and in violation of rules, along with losses linked to deploying sanitation workers for office duties (₹4.12 crore) and maintenance expenses shown for closed compost centres (₹2.12 crore).
Outside Chennai, the audit cited revenue loss of ₹38.96 crore due to lower collection of water supply and underground sewerage charges from commercial establishments, with Salem Corporation alone accounting for ₹32.49 crore. It also flagged alleged misappropriation of ₹3.22 crore in Vellore Corporation through non-payment of contract workers’ PF using fake challans, losses of ₹7.66 crore due to not collecting rent for solid waste management vehicles, and a ₹14.28 crore loss in 60 municipalities after GST was paid despite tax exemption for solid waste management works.
The report further pointed to losses in town panchayats under the AMRUT Drinking Water 2.0 scheme due to substandard pipes (₹3.86 crore), non-remittance of ₹3.99 crore collected online in village panchayats into government accounts, and pension payments of ₹19.64 crore at Annamalai University without verifying whether pensioners were alive. It said administrative lapses contributed to a revenue deficit of ₹863 crore in the Greater Chennai Corporation and an increase in municipal debt liabilities to ₹1,699 crore, calling for action against those responsible and recovery of public funds.
