Nagaland: CAG report finds anomalies in various departments

INR 207.25 crore misappropriated in last fiscal year

Our Correspondent
Kohima, March 23 (EMN): The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has detected as many as 26 cases of misappropriation, losses, thefts, etc., involving government money up to INR 207.25 crore in the last fiscal year ending March 31, 2020 and the final action is pending.

Out of the 26 cases, five cases involving INR 22.87 crore are said to be pending in the court of law.

The School Education department has the highest amount of misappropriation at INR 82.70 crore, according to the State Finances Audit report of CAG for the year ended March 31, 2020, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

It is followed by Power department with INR 25.48 crore; Public Works Department (R&B) with INR 23.79 crore; Planning and Coordination – INR 20.23 crore; Tourism – INR 14.20 crore; Health and Family Welfare – INR 13.70 crore; Taxes – INR 6.45 crore; Public Health Engineering – INR 5.05 crore; Municipal Affairs – INR 4.11 crore; Rural Development – INR 3.07 crore; Land Records and Survey – INR 1.24 crore; Technical Education – INR 1.08 crore; and other departments – INR 6.06, revealed the report.

Further, as per the information furnished by Nagaland Lokayukta, Directorate of Investigation, there were four cases of loss to government due to theft, misappropriation, loss of government materials etc. involving INR 2.77 crore, out of which an amount of INR 2.54 crore had been recovered.

UC worth 456.2 cr. due for submission

The CAG of India also detected utilisation certificates (UCs) worth INR 456.2 crore of two financial years due for submission.

During the year 2019-20, as many as 91 grants involving INR 77.61 crore were provided to 20 departments, for which UCs were due for submission during 2020-21.

As of March 2020, there were 104 UCs worth INR 378.59 crore which were due for submission for periods pertaining up to 2018-19.

‘Pending UCs violates prescribed financial rules and reflects poor monitoring mechanisms of the state government. Moreover, high pendency of UCs is fraught with risk of misappropriation of funds. The state would also lose out on central funds for want of UCs not submitted,’ CAG report stated.

There were 379 abstract contingent (AC) bills involving INR 548.69 crore pending for adjustment by submission of detailed countersigned contingent (DCC) bills, as of March 2020. During the year, expenditure of INR 519.36 crore under 60 revenue and capital major heads constituting about 4.04% of total expenditure of INR 12,843.34 crore was hooked under minor head 800-other expenditure, it was informed.

Similarly, receipts of INR 381.77 crore under 47 revenue major heads, constituting about 3.34% of the total revenue receipts of INR 11,423.29 crore were booked under minor heads 800-other receipts under concerned major heads, it added.

30,334 workers registered with NBOCWWB

By the end of 2019-20, a total of 30,334 workers were registered with the Nagaland Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (NBOCWWB). The NBOCWWB received INR 23.46 crore during the year 2019-20 and spent INR 12.66 crore (administrative expenses INR 0.47 crore and Welfare schemes INR 12.19 crore).

During the year 2019-20, Public Works divisions were the major units that delayed the rendition of monthly accounts, said the CAG report.

‘Delayed rendering of accounts by the count rendering units / authorities distorted the accurate depiction of monthly transactions of the State and impacted effective budgetary management,’ it pointed out.

A total of 165 annual accounts with respect to 22 authorities due up to 2019-20 had not been received as of December 2020 by the Principal Accountant General (audit), although the annual accounts of these authorities were due for submission every year.