Jaipur: Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed that Rajasthan govt failed to transfer Rs 684.47 crore deducted from state employees for New Pension Scheme (NPS) to National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) even three years after reverting to Old Pension Scheme (OPS), resulting in a deferred liability of Rs 1,418.10 crore for the state govt.According to the CAG report, the govt notified reversion to OPS for state govt employees from April 1, 2022, after which 5,25,713 employees, excluding All India Services officers posted in the state, were shifted to the old pension system.The audit found that during 2021-22, employees contributed Rs 2,565.87 crore towards NPS. Of this, Rs 1,881.40 crore pertaining to 2021-22 was transferred to NSDL. However, Rs 684.47 crore, representing contributions for Jan to March 2022, was not transferred to NSDL till March 2025 and was lying in the Public Account of the state at the end of 2024-25.CAG said the state govt was also required to make a matching contribution of Rs 684.47 crore. Consequently, the short transfer of the employees’ contribution, along with the corresponding govt contribution to NSDL amounted to Rs 1,368.94 crore as a deferred liability as of March 31, 2025.The delay also resulted in an avoidable interest burden of Rs 49.16 crore on the untransferred amount during 2024-25, adversely affecting employee returns, the audit observed. Including this, the deferred liability of the state govt stood at Rs 1,418.10 crore.CAG noted that pension deductions have a fiduciary character and cautioned that such deferment could adversely affect the retirement corpus of employees while creating an implicit interest liability for govt.The audit further observed that while retaining the funds in Public Account may temporarily ease cash-flow pressures, such balances cannot be treated as genuine fiscal savings as they could result in future revenue expenditure obligations.
