NEW DELHI: Wary of probes by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and subsequent scrutiny by Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Parliament, the NDA government has asked all ministries to take audit objections seriously and submit responses in a time-bound manner. The move came just months after the Centre had cautioned CAG not to sensationalise its findings.
It is important to note that the national auditor’s reports had rocked the previous UPA regime, exposing corruption during the Commonwealth Games, and in the allocation of coal mines and 2G spectrum. The Department of Expenditure, which comes under the Ministry of Finance, recently asked the ministries to ensure that heads of their sub-ordinate offices are acquainted with audit objections as well as procedure for dealing with PAC matters.
The PAC has recommended that ministries required to submit action-taken notes should “issue standing order to all their divisions and units across the country to the effect that audit objections at the time of actual audit should be taken note of and shared with all their divisions and units which are liable to such objections by virtue of similarity of functions.”
“The committee further desires that Ministry of Finance may coordinate with all ministries regarding compliance to this recommendation of the Committee and apprise the Committee of the progress achieved within six months,” stated the Department of Expenditure’s letter to the ministries, quoting directions from PAC.
The letter categorically mentioned that action-taken notes as per the recommendations should be submitted within a stipulated time. Sample this: On September 15, 2015, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation sent a reminder to 16 states seeking details related to non-functional schemes in the entire country as desired by the CAG.
Earlier, the ministry had written to all the states seeking information on August 5 but despite the lapse of over a month very few states had responded with details.
“The CAG wants to know the vital data regarding non-functional schemes. It is requested to furnish the same,” said the letter signed by a Joint Secretary-level officer.
It appears that the ministry had also submitted a list of 3,112 schemes which were more than three years old. However, the CAG further asked for specific reasons for non-completion of schemes for more than three years and a detailed explanation of why such projects were pending.
The matter was flagged as top priority when the ministry first wrote to states in August and gave them 16 days to furnish details. The states, which included Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, failed to meet the deadline prompting the ministry to send the reminder again last week.