Kerala floods one month after: Financial Inspection Wing reports swept under the carpet

KOCHI: While the Kerala government is looking at all available options to raise money for rebuilding the state, it is soft-pedalling on various revenue recovery processes, mainly on reports of Financial Inspection Wing (FIW) which have recommended revenue recovery against many government officers for causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.

Though the Left Front Government made tall promises on initiating action based on the FIW reports, the government departments and institutions continue to sweep the reports under the carpet. After coming to power, the LDF Government had directed all departments to take action on the FIW reports which include filing an action-taken report specifying the nature of action whether it is suspension or revenue recovery.
Senior government officers said the government could easily raise a considerable amount of money running into crores for the rebuilding exercise if they swiftly act upon the reports of the FIW.

Official data with the Finance Inspection Department (both Technical and Non-Technical wings) shows they had prepared 201 reports in the 2017-18 period, recommending action. However, a majority of them have been pushed into the cold storage.

In most of the reports, the FIW had recommended recovery of the money through revenue recovery from the public servants. “There is a strong nexus among the government officers to ensure such reports are hushed up,” said a finance officer.

“Even after repeated reminders from the Finance Department, the department concerned keep on delaying the revenue recovery procedures. This is mainly to help the accused officers,” the officer explained.FIW Chief Technical Examiner R Rajendra Kumar said they have been delivering their task on time and submitting reports as and when required.

“Once we send a report to the department in which the accused officer is working or has worked, it’s up to that department to take action. Many of the departments are complying with our recommendation. Usually, the name of the accused officer is cleared for promotion only after he or she has complied with the direction as in the report,” he said.

Express traced one of the FIW reports lying idle with the State Higher Education Department. As per the documents, the FIW conducted a surprise inspection at Kalady Sree Sankaracharya University in 2013 and unearthed massive irregularities in appointing staff and fixing their salaries. The FIW found by creating illegal posts, conducting recruitment to it and fixing salaries, the university officers have caused additional loss to the state exchequer. So, it is imperative to recover the loss from the officers concerned through appropriate means which include revenue recovery.