*CS asked to tighten noose around departmental heads
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 27: Notwithstanding the fact that the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India are aimed at ensuring accountability, transparency and good governance, majority of the departments of Jammu and Kashmir Government are adopting casual approach in responding to the Audit Observations with the sole objective of avoiding answerability.
The CAG is an institution through which the accountability of the Government and other public authorities is ensured through high quality auditing and accounting and it provides independent assurance to the Legislature, the executive and the public that the public funds are being used efficiently and for the intended purposes.
The observations/findings of the CAG are taken into consideration by the Public Accounts Committee of the State Legislature comprising Members of Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. This Committee seeks response from the concerned departments on the Audit Observations of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
However, this vital Committee in its 53rd Report on the Audit Paragraphs of the CAG tabled in the State Legislature few days back has observed that departments have been showing a very casual approach in responding to the Audit Observations contained in the CAG Reports in their written replies.
“The replies should have been specific to the action taken in response to the observations of the Audit in order to satisfy the Committee and the Auditing Agency for a suitable disposal of the Audit Paragraphs but ironically, the replies submitted to the Committee were found incomplete and evasive”, the report said.
The Public Accounts Committee further said: “The shifting of the responsibilities by
the incumbent officers to their predecessors for non-implementation of various guidelines and instructions for the implementation of various schemes in the State, affecting the very purpose of their implementation, was a matter of serious concern”.
Moreover, the failure of various departments in furnishing the Action Taken Reports to the Assembly Secretariat within the prescribed period of time in accordance with the rules of the J&K Legislative Assembly was another matter of serious concern for the Committee, the report pointed out while stressing that the departments should ensure the compliance of the Rules to uphold the integrity and sovereignty of the House at all costs in future.
The Committee has further expressed its displeasure over the non-submission of Action Taken Reports in respect of Audit Paragraphs contained in the CAG Reports by various departments despite repeated reminders in this behalf. It has directed the Chief Secretary to impress upon all the departmental heads to ensure timely submission of the Action Taken Reports to Assembly Secretariat for its perusal and examination.
The non-serious approach of the departmental heads towards the Audit Observations is notwithstanding the fact that Comptroller and Auditor General had detected huge irregularities in execution of various schemes in many departments.
Quoting an instance, the Public Accounts Committee said that CAG had detected execution of 1452 Rural Water Supply schemes by the Public Health Engineering Department at an estimated cost of Rs 1866.24 crore without obtaining sanction from the State Level Scheme Monitoring Committee with the observation that the mechanism for sanction of new schemes and review of the existing schemes as envisaged in the programme guidelines had not been adopted by the department.
The Committee has observed that a number of such water supply schemes had either failed or gone defunct thereby defeating the objective of providing adequate potable drinking water to the rural population. However, the relevant information from the department was not received by the Committee on Public Accounts till finalization of report in January this year.
Similarly, the Audit Observation vis-à-vis irregularities in implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to the Occupants) Act, 2001, which was made in CAG report for the year 2012-13, could not be disposed off till date for want of relevant information from the Revenue Department.
There are numerous such instances in other departments also, which clearly indicate that departments are not only casually taking the Audit Observations of the CAG but also undermining the authority of the Committee on Public Accounts.
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