Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on Social, Economic, General and Revenue Sectors for the year ended 31 March 2022 (Report No. 2 of 2023), which was tabled on the last day of the second session of the 14th Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA), detected anomalies in various departments.
Compliance Audit on funds released under Special Assistance– Creation of Capital Assets: The CAG had carried out a Subject Specific Compliance Audit (SSCA) of “Funds released under Special Assistance– Creation of Capital Assets” covering the Special Assistance (SA) funds sanctioned by government of India during 2018-19 to 2020-21. The SSCA revealed that:
It was revealed that nine out of 14 projects remained incomplete but were shown as complete as per the progress report.
There was non/short release of funds (Rs.57.38 crore out of Rs.76.72 crore) to 7 out of 14 departments by the state government for which funds were allocated by the Centre to complete the earmarked projects.
Further, funds of Rs. 38.58 crore were diverted to meet liabilities of the departments on unapproved projects other than the earmarked projects.
The report also revealed that an amount of Rs. 5.29 crore out of Rs. 70.01 crore was utilised to meet expenditure of revenue nature instead of capital expenditure which was in contravention to government of Inda sanction as well as financial propriety and accounting principles.
Also, release of fund to two implementing departments were delayed by 7 to 11 months after the financial year for which it was sanctioned.
Idle investment by the Municipal Affairs dept: CAG report said that as the state government failed to execute fresh MoU for establishment of Modern Abattoir even after a lapse of more than one year from the date of cancellation of MoU, the facility constructed at a cost of Rs. 17.15 crore was lying idle for the last four years.
Unfruitful expenditure by Urban Development dept: The CAG report pointed out that the proposed road of 18.85 Km to connect Peren district road (Ngwalwa) and NH-39 (Chümoukedima) remained incomplete even after a lapse of more than 10 years leading to unfruitful expenditure of Rs. 9.21 crore and non-fulfilment of the intended objective.
Diversion of SK Oil by F&CS dept: The report stated that Superior Kerosene (SK) Oil worth Rs. 19.56 crore (6,113.19 KL) meant for beneficiaries of Public Distribution System was diverted to non-beneficiaries.
Excess payment by Agri dept: CAG report said that the Agriculture department did not follow the financial assistance norms of Rs. 1.25 lakh per beneficiary leading to deprival of benefits to 801 beneficiaries. Further, Rs. 3.41 crore was incurred on five items which were not approved by the Centre, it said. Moreover, the report said that Rs, 7.20 crore was paid to the supplier in excess without actual receipt of full items.
Fraudulent/ excess drawal of money: Failure of the Drawing and Disbursing Officers and Treasury Officers to exercise prescribed checks resulted in fraudulent/ double/ excess drawals of Rs.2.26 crore, the report said.
Unauthorised diversion of funds from salary head by PWD (Mech): Failure of the Treasury officer in exercising the prescribed checks while passing work charged salary cheques/ bills facilitated unauthorised diversion of funds of Rs. 83.50 lakh from the salary head by Mechanical Engineer, PWD mechanical division-I, Kohima.
Unauthorized drawal of additional ration allowance (VGs): The report said that the failure of the Treasury officers in exercising the prescribed checks while passing the additional Ration Allowance bills presented by three DDO of the Village Guards Organisation under Home department resulted in unauthorised drawal of Rs. 2.40 crore.
Loss of revenue due to non-assessment of returns by the Finance (Taxation) dept: Non-assessment of returns of 11 dealers within the stipulated time limit by the Assessing Authority led to loss of tax revenue of Rs. 15.60 crore under NVAT Rules as the assessment had now become time barred, the report said.
Irregular claims of concessional rate of tax on statutory ‘C’ forms under the Finance (Taxation) dept: Allowance of concessional rate of tax on inter-State sales turnover not supported by statutory ‘C’ forms and acceptance of fake ‘C’ form by the Superintendent of Taxes resulted in evasion of tax of Rs. 1.14 crore under Central Sales Tax Rules on which an interest of Rs. 1.40 crore was also leviable, it said.
Evasion of Tax under Finance (Taxation) dept: CAG report said that the failure to undertake reconciliation of challans submitted by two dealers with Treasury receipts in government account resulted in loss of government revenue of Rs. 1.36 crore due to forged challans. Besides, the two dealers defaulted in payment of tax of Rs. 3.85 crore under Nagaland (Sales of Petroleum and Petroleum Products including Motor Spirit and Lubricants) Taxation Rules and were also liable to pay interest of Rs. 2.26 crore.