The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : House seeks timely action on audit reports

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Wednesday, Mar 19, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

House seeks timely action on audit reports

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ruling and Opposition members in the Assembly, on Tuesday, came to a consensus that the scrutiny of action taken on audit reports should be made more effective and current.

The consensus was arrived at during a discussion on the Kerala Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill during which the members highlighted the loss of nearly Rs. 600 crore to the exchequer on account of irregularities in tax assessment. This had been reported by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) in its report placed before the House on Monday.

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, who replied to the debate on the Bill, said the loss of revenue was a serious matter. Action on audit reports had become a farce on account of official apathy and delays.

The Minister noted that 9,978 audit observations were waiting for replies from the officials. The CAG did not get responses to 21 of 87 draft audit paragraphs.

Dr. Isaac said that he proposed to take suo motu action on the audit observations. He wanted the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House to follow up on that.

Chairman of the committee Aryadan Mohammed said it would initiate action for breach of privilege and contempt of House if the officials failed to provide replies to its queries in time. The government should support such action. Mr. Mohammed noted the officials were required to report remedial action taken on audit paragraphs within three months. However, action had been pending in many cases for five to eight years.

The House passed the Bill, which authorises withdrawal of Rs. 13,803.28 crore from the Consolidated Fund of the State for services during the first four months of the coming financial year.

Before the House rose for the day, Speaker K. Radhakrishnan announced that President Pratibha Patel would be inaugurating the concluding function of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Assembly on April 20.

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