THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pushing the city corporation into a corner, the state audit department has found severe lapses in its utilisation of funds in 2023-24. The key findings of the Local Fund Audit Report include fund mismanagement, discrepancies and financial indiscipline. With local-body elections at the doorstep, the report has provided the Opposition with the political ammunition to take on the LDF-led corporation, led by mayor Arya Rajendran.
Of the 1,872 projects for which the corporation had earmarked funds in 2023-24, it was only able to implement 801. Of those, only 192 schemes were fully executed. Having uncovered mismatched figures in the annual governance report and documents furnished for audit, the department said that this indicates the corporation is unclear about its own expenses. It added that lack of accounting of funds provided in advance, even a year after their disbursal, shows financial indiscipline.
While there is no legal provision to spend money under items not mentioned in the council budget, except in case of emergencies, the report said that lakhs of rupees were spent otherwise. In addition, it found overspending under various heads, without even consulting the standing committee.
The corporation lost `1.63 crore from its failure to properly collect revenue, such as land tax and building permits. Even the Funtura game zone at the Lulu International Shopping Mall was not levied entertainment taxes, adding to the financial loss, the report said.
Although accounting procedures through K-Smart began in January 2024, the report says that past data and adjustment entries were made through this provision.
This caused several account mismatches, it stated. Discrepancies were also found in the balances of the previous and ongoing years: The unutilised balance amount from the previous year was not converted into an asset for the current year. On the other hand, the interest amount received for liability funds was accounted for as income for the same.
Transactions mentioned in the bank book were not found in the bank statement, raising questions. Added to this, the department found that the annual financial statement of the corporation did not include all bank accounts it maintains. Figures also show a discrepancy in the amount spent for the Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme upon comparing the amount certified by the officer in charge and the annual financial statement.
BJP Thiruvananthapuram city district president Karamana Jayan called for a high-level probe into the findings.
