CHENNAI: Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Monday said Raj Bhavan has spent funds in violation of the financial code, and steps would be taken to stop such violations in the coming days.
Speaking on the resolution criticising governor RN Ravi moved by CM MK Stalin in the Assembly, the minister said after the allocation for the governor’s discretionary fund was hiked, Rs 18.38 crore has been moved to Raj Bhavan’s household account.
“Of this, Rs 11.32 crore was transferred to some other account and there is no detail about how this money was spent. I would say this is a violation of the rule. Amounts ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1 lakh could be termed petty grants. But Rs 1 crore or Rs 2 crore cannot be termed as petty grants. “After the fund was hiked to Rs 5 crore, money was spent in violation of the financial code,” the minister said.
Quoting the expenditure account submitted by the Raj Bhavan after September 2021, the minister said, “Rs 5 lakh was spent for UPSC students meeting, Rs 30 lakh for a tea party. Contrary to the rule that stipulates ‘no recurring expenses shall be made with respect to same individuals’, a few people have received huge sums as payment.”
The governor’s discretionary grant must be spent on poor and needy patients for surgery or treatment, poor families for marriage of their daughters, and deserving NGOs. This allocation stood at Rs 1.57 crore during 2018-19 and it was hiked to Rs 50 lakh in the revised estimates and later to Rs 5 crore, he said.
With regard to his statement on diversion of Rs 2 crore from the governor’s discretionary funds to NGO Akshaya Patra during the AIADMK regime, PTR said the funds were transferred to governor’s household account. “Actually, the fund did not go to Akshaya Patra. Some amount was given to the NGO. A certain amount was transferred to some other account,” he said.