Moa Jamir
Every year during the annual reports of Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India on ‘State Finances Audit Report’ (SFAR) and ‘Audit Report on Social, Economic, Revenue and General Sectors,’ several anomalies and observations involving various departments, governmental agencies and Autonomous Bodies are highlighted.
Works delays, procedural lapses, faulty Detailed Projects Reports, incomplete projects, cost escalation and misappropriation, losses, theft and defalcation involving government money are some regular features in the annual reports concerning Nagaland.
The reports are tabled in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) each year, but discussions are seldom held on the floor of the House, either by design or otherwise. The responses from general public are lukewarm, at best.
“Once tabled in the House, the Reports stand permanently referred to the Central and State Standing Committees on Public Accounts (PAC)/Committees on Public Undertakings (COPU),” according to the CAG.
These specialised Committees have been constituted to “facilitate timely and intensive scrutiny” of the Annual Accounts and the Audit Reports and accordingly, they select those findings and recommendations considered “the most critical to the public interest and arrange for hearings on them.”
After the examination, the Committees prepare and submit their reports to the Legislature that “summarise the Committee's hearings, the action taken by the executive and include recommendations to improve administrative practices and procedures.”
Going by both COPU and PAC reports along with observations and recommendations presented to the recently concluded 7th Session of 13th NLA in February, the Committees seem to be doing their ‘jobs.’
Given that the PAC or COPU are constituted each year as a conventional practice; those committees, presumably, must be making more or less similar observations and recommendations annually.
However, are these chidings engendering changes? Evidently, not.
Take the case of submission of Utilisation Certificates (UCs) and misappropriation, loss etc. of Government money.
According to the CAG, Financial Rules provide that for the grants provided for specific purposes, UCs should be “obtained by the departmental officers from the grantees and after verification, these should be forwarded to the Accountant General (Accounts & Entitlement) within 12 months from the date of their sanction unless specified otherwise.”
Such rules are regularly flouted. The present PAC (2020-21) while scrutinising the CAG 2015-2016 Reports has expressed ‘major concern’ over the non-submission of UCs on time by various departments observing an aggregate amount of Rs 145.98 crore in arrears.
The other is the cases of misappropriation, loss etc., of Government money. Expressing ‘serious concern’ over the amount involved while examining 41 such cases “amounting to Rs 597.63 crore up to March 2016” highlighted by the CAG, the Committee urged all “departmental officers to make effort to comply with financial rules, procedures and directives.”
Similar observations on both issues were made by the PAC in its 123rd Report on the CAG’s 2014-2015 Audit Reports.
A casual reading of the latest CAG’s SFAR Report (Report No 1 of 2020)reveals that business continues as usual. It pointed out 36 cases of misappropriation, loss, etc., involving Rs 215.89 crore and UCs amounting to Rs 760.72 crore were in arrears for the year ended March 31, 2019.
If the observations and chidings by the topmost panel of the State are not engendering desired change and the executives are continuing business as usual with apparent impunity, more stringent approaches should be adopted to ensure “good governance in the State.”
For any comment, drop a line to jamir.moa@gmail.com
