CHENNAI: Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Thursday said the governor’s discretionary funds were unusually hiked during 2019-20 by the previous AIADMK regime and the then governor granted huge amount to Akshaya Patra Foundation and transferred the rest of the funds to an unauditable account of the Raj Bhavan. The minister did not name the governor. Banwarilal Purohit was the governor of the state during the stated period.
The minister said the discretionary funds of the governor which stood at Rs 50 lakh per year were increased to Rs 5 crore in 2019-20. During that period, the governor granted Rs 4 crore to Akshaya Patra Foundation for providing breakfast to schoolchildren. The rest of the fund, Rs 1 crore, was transferred to Raj Bhavan’s ‘invisible’ account which cannot be subjected to audit. During 2020-21 too, Rs 5 crore was allocated to Raj Bhavan and Rs 1 crore from the fund was given to the foundation. After spending for other purposes, Rs 1.88 crore was transferred to an unauditable account, the FM said.
“When we check these allocations and spendings, it raises suspicions as to whether such allocations were made as per the Constitution or these amounts were spent for those running a party. The CAG had, on many occasions, pointed out that transferring the unspent amounts in a financial year to ‘invisible accounts’ is wrong. Even for allocating Rs 1,000 or Rs 10,000 to other departments, we have to get the consent of the assembly. But allocating Rs 5 crore without assigning any reason is against democratic norms,” the minister added.
Meanwhile, when asked about this after the end of the assembly session on Thursday, Leader of the Opposition, Edappadi K Palanisawmi, said, “Criticising the governor within the House is wrong and we opposed the remarks against the governor. The governor allocated funds for a welfare scheme for providing breakfast to schoolchildren. The DMK government too had allocated Rs 5 crore last year.”