GST Administration Must Stop Performing and Start Governing

Administrative distortion in GST audits/enforcement is a national concern — Karnataka is not an exception for this sickness. What should be a risk-based, technology-enabled compliance system has deteriorated into a mechanical cycle of routine audits, hollow notices and ritualistic adjudications. Honest taxpayers, despite spotless records, are pulled into scrutiny year after year as if compliance itself were a provocation.

Audit/Enforcement assignments move like mail in a “post office”: no scientific selection, no risk analysis, no learning from past audits. Reports often lack clarity or legal grounding, leaving adjudicating officers to handle weak, unsustainable observations. And instead of embracing Bengaluru’s identity as the Silicon Valley of India, the GST machinery still operates with outdated methods that would embarrass even a modest digital office.

A deeper, more troubling reality fuels this chaos is the officers influencing their own postings to plum locations, insulating themselves from administrative oversight. When individuals can shape their own power centres, accountability collapses. Oversight becomes optional. And enforcement becomes a stage for numbers, not justice. And that is the heart of the problem — the numbers obsession. The scramble to impress political masters with inflated statistics has overshadowed the core duty of the department. GST administration is not a scoreboard. It is not a spectacle. And it cannot be a tool for political optics.

What the States truly deserve is lawful revenue — not target-driven collections, not revenge-driven demands, and not notices issued to satisfy someone’s “performance spreadsheet.” Officers must be given reasonable, scientific, data-backed targets, not the unrealistic, pressure-laden quotas that push the system toward overreach and harassment. Unscientific targets are being imposed to meet the funds for freebies/guarantees and not for the development of the State. The unpleasant result is, lack of adequate modern infrastructure is the root cause for migration/relocation of global companies to better and more conducive places. In the long run such States are the real losers and not the global companies. They can flourish wherever they wish to be. They know their business better than the administrators.

It is time for the administration to be true to itself — to its mandate, its statute, and its conscience. Many States, with their unparalleled technological ecosystem, should lead the nation in intelligent, digital, transparent tax governance. Instead, they are slipping into an unhealthy cycle of arbitrary action and exaggerated performance.

And let this be stated unequivocally: The consistent rise in GST collections is not an achievement of aggressive enforcement. It is driven by the inherent sharp teeth of the GST law, and the natural surge and resilience of India’s business and services sector. The credit for this growth cannot be claimed by the administration that relies on outdated methods, arbitrary notices and number-oriented theatrics.

GST administration is not a battleground for statistical one-upmanship. Achievement is not measured by quantity but by the quality, legality and sustainability of action. The GST administration must urgently confront this reality. The Commissioners must restore transparency, discipline and credibility. Risk-based, technology-enabled selection must replace arbitrary targeting. Audit reports must meet professional legal standards. Repeat audits without fresh risk indicators should be barred. And officers who misuse authority—regardless of political backing—must face strict disciplinary action.

Enough is enough. States do not need GST theatres. They needs discipline. They do not need inflated numbers. They need integrity. And above all, the States deserve revenue collected lawfully, fairly, and sustainably — not through fear, not through pressure, and not through politics.

The administration needs a system that taxpayers can trust. It needs accountability, integrity and reforms. It does not need more notices and inflated statistics. It’s nothing but recycling of scrap. The wake-up call is overdue. Administration can—and must—do better.