Comment with reference to the provisions of CARO, 2020: (a) Relon Limited has a turnover of 650 crores during the financial year 2023-24. It has…

(a) Reporting responsibility of the auditor under paragraph 3 of CARO, 2020: The auditor is required to report as per clause (vii) (a) of Paragraph 3 of CARO, 2020 that whether the company is regular in depositing undisputed statutory dues including Goods and Services Tax, provident fund, employees' state insurance, income tax, sales-tax, service tax, duty of customs, duty of excise, value added tax, cess and any other statutory dues to the appropriate authorities and if not, the extent of the arrears of outstanding statutory dues as on the last day of the financial year concerned for a period of more than six months from the date they became payable, shall be indicated; Further, the auditor is also required to report as per Clause (vii) (b) of Paragraph 3 of CARO, 2020, where statutory dues referred to in sub-clause (a) have not been deposited on account of any dispute, then the amounts involved and the forum where dispute is pending shall be mentioned (a mere representation to the concerned Department shall not be treated as a dispute). In the given case, Relon Limited has an outstanding Income-tax liability of 15 lakhs since July 2023. Although the management has filed an objection letter, no formal dispute has been raised, and the dues remain unpaid for more than six months. Therefore, the auditor is required to report the same under clause (vii) (a) of Para 3 of CARO, 2020.