Nagaland government incorrectly using funds for employees under National Pension System, says CAG

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Feb. 20 (EMN): Nagaland government has incorrectly used the funds that belong to employees under National Pension System (NPS), according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India report, a copy of which was tabled at the recently concluded Assembly session.

‘The state government has collected INR 86.74 crore from employees as contribution towards NPS and contributed only INR 58.17 crore as government’s share towards the scheme. As a result, government did not discharge its statutory liability as it failed to contribute INR 28.57 crore as government’s matching share under NPS,’ it stated.

‘Further, against the total collected funds of INR 144.91 crore, the government transferred INR 111.47 crore only to the designated authority (NSDL) and did not transfer INR 33.44 crore to NSDL for further investment as per the provisions of the scheme. Thus, there was a short of transfer of INR 62.01 crore to the NSDL and the current liability stands deferred to future years,’ it added.

The CAG went on to say that the state government has created interest liability on the amount not transferred to NSDL, incorrectly used the funds that belongs to employees, creating “uncertainty in respect of benefits due to the employees affected/ avoidable financial liability of government in future; thus leading to possible failure of the scheme itself”.