Rs 40.01 lakh for farewell function, Rs 56.12 lakh from the funds for scholarship schemes for private use and suspected misappropriation of Rs 51.87 lakh; drawing of Rs 14.13 lakh for nonexistent employees by a Headmaster; Field testing kits worth Rs. 1.32 crore undistributed to targeted beneficiaries; 222 persons below 60 years given old age pension; Rs 241.81 crore procurement without inviting tender; Tax evasion of Rs 11 crore and irregular exemption of taxable purchases of Rs 28.60 crore; Rs 2.03 crore for supply of 3,741 bundles of CGI sheets; Utilisation Certificates for Rs 12.79 crore furnished even before the release of the funds; and full payment to two different contractors amounting to Rs 10 crore, yet incomplete Bailey Bridge.
The above instances are just a tip of the gross anomalies cited by the latest Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) of India Report on Nagaland (for the year ended March 31, 2017). As of March 31, 2017, there were 25 cases of misappropriation, loss etc. involving government money amounting to Rs. 230.33 crore on which final action was pending with the State Vigilance Commission. Out of this Rs. 199 crore was designated as ‘misappropriation.’ Only few departments were assessed in the present report. Last year, the CAG had reported a loss of Rs. 597.76 crore to Government due to “theft, misappropriation or loss of Government material.”
A detailed analysis of the report, however, is a tedious and frustrating exercise. While the magnitude of the colossal wastage detected is a big factor, the frustration also arises from the fact that annually the reports are given a silent burial at the altar of the State Legislative Assembly.
Different organisations from top to bottom either remain conspicuously detached or maintain a deafening silence. With no pressure group exerting concerns, it does not elicit even an iota of action from the Government, if one goes by the past records.
The reports giving details about State Finances & Report on Social, Economic, Revenue and General Sectors, is submitted in the parliament/assembly for necessary action. But inaction has become an annual ritual making it a futile exercise.
In theory, the reports of the CAG once tabled in the House stand permanently referred State Standing Committees on Public Accounts (PAC)/Committees on Public Undertakings (COPU) – the specialised committees “constituted to facilitate timely and intensive scrutiny of the "Annual Accounts and the Audit Reports thereon.”
The 2018 report stated that the Finance Department has issued instructions to all departments to submit Action Taken Notes (ATNs) on various suggestions, observations and recommendations made by PAC for their consideration within 15 days of presentation of its Reports to the Legislature. A State Level Audit and Accounts Committee was formed (in June 2008) under the Chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to "monitor the response and corrective action on the findings reported by audit.”
In practice, during 2016-17, not even a single meeting of the said committee was held. This is the seriousness with which those at the helm of affairs consider ‘accountability and transparency’ in the state.
Breaking from tradition, the All Nagaland College Students’ Union, calling the suspected misappropriation and diversion of scholarship funds under technical education department ‘nothing less than daylight robbery,’ demanded a timely response from technical education department. Others must follow suit.
Can the state government with its much-publicised slogan of ‘change, transparency and accountability’ purge the ritualistic inaction? This is a very opportune time to act.
