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| 6 yrs on, no recovery in Rs 2.44 cr scam in Estates Deptt | | | Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Early Times Report
Srinagar, July 14: Six years have passed since a scam of Rs 2.44 crore surfaced in the Estates department, but the authorities are yet to recover the money from the corrupt officials.
Official sources said that irregularities worth Rs 2.44 crore in the Estates department were unearthed by the Accountant General of India in its Audit report in 2012. The audit report had revealed that items worth Rs 2.44 crore were found missing from the Jammu store. Although the probe was ordered and several officials were indicted, no recovery has been made from them.
"The money is yet to recovered from the fraudulent persons," a senior official of the Estates department said.
"Everyone is aware of this fraud. We hope recovery is made from them soon although it is not Rs 2.44 crore as per the probe," the official said.
Sources said that dilly-dallying approach of the government can be gauged from the fact that the government had constituted a committee to probe the matter, but even after the lapse of several years the committee did not finalize the report.
"However, the report has now been submitted after four years but no action taken so far," the official said.
Sources revealed that the operation cover up is on to protect influential officials/officers of the department who were posted here from time to time and were directly involved in this matter.
According to the official sources, soon after the shortage of material was detected by the AG's audit in the month of December 2012, a committee was constituted that was headed by an Executive Engineer of Estates department. "It was decided that the action would be taken on the basis of report of this committee."
However sources said till date nothing concrete has been done in this regard.
The AG's audit had observed that finished material worth Rs 2.44 crore was found short in the store of Estates Jammu. The inventory shown by the department did not match with the ground balance.
The Estates department in Jammu province was headed by deputy director stores on whose behest all such purchases of varieties of items is made.
According to the sources, the deputy directors who were posted over the years cannot escape the responsibility of such a high magnitude shortage in the stores.
The sources revealed that the department which was established in 1968 has never bothered to conduct physical verification at the close of the financial year to know if any discrepancies exist in the stock inventory which is mandatory for any government store.
It was seen during the audit of the handing and taking over of the store records that the store items as reflected in the books of the stores were not found on ground.
As a result, the balances of store items found short were not carried forward in the stock registers maintained after the handing and taking over of the store records.
Sources said that lack of internal control system such as annual physical verification of stores had created loopholes in the effective management of stores and consequently led to suspected misappropriation of store items of Rs 2.44 crore. |
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