NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel today expressed disappointment over delays ranging from three to 27 months in tabling the annual reports and audited accounts of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in the House since 2011 and asked the Environment Ministry to give reasons within 30 days in such cases.
By not according due seriousness to this matter, the Ministry "in a way failed" in their accountability and duty towards Parliament, the panel said.
The 'Committee on Papers Laid on the Table (2017-18)' in its 20th report on WII presented in the Lok Sabha said the issue of delay in convening the meetings of WII society which leads to delay in laying annual reports and audited accounts should be reviewed at the "highest" level as was recommended by it in its earlier reports.
The panel said that the annual reports and audited accounts of WII for the year 2011-2012 to 2015-16 saw delays from three to 27 months while the same for the year 2016-2017 have not been laid as yet.
"The committee also impresses upon the Ministry (environment) that if for any reasons, the annual reports and audited accounts of WI are not laid on the table of the House within the stipulated time, a statement explaining the reasons as to why the requisite documents could not be laid within the prescribed period should be laid on he Table of the House strictly within 30 days as per procedure laid down by the Committee," it said.
The committee, chaired by Chandrakant B Khaire, also noted that the time taken in the process of reconstitution of the governing body of WII society was another reason for the delay in getting approval of the documents of the institute for 2014-15 and 2015-16.
"The committee finds it strange that the Ministry/institute has taken near about two years for taking decision that the meeting of the governing body could be held in the absence of non-official members as per the procedure," the committee said.
The committee also noted that unduly long time was taken for finalisation of Reports during the years 2011-12 to 2015-16 except for the year 2013-14.
"In the opinion to their the Committee, had the Ministry been pro-active and given due priority Parliamentary obligations in laying documents in time on the Table of the House, the procedural bottleneck could have been easily overcome.
"The Committee feel that by not according due seriousness to this matter, the Ministry in a way failed in their accountability and duty towards Parliament," it said.
"The monitoring mechanism in the Ministry should be strengthened further to ensure that such slippages and delays are eliminated," it added.