Over Rs 19 lakh yet to be recovered
Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 27
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has reported fraudulent and excess drawal of funds amounting to Rs 68 lakh by Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) across 10 departments in Nagaland, citing serious lapses in compliance with financial rules and a failure to act on previous recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee.
According to the CAG report, for the year ended March 31, 2023, placed on the table of the State Legislature on March 26, 2026, the irregularities involved “manipulation of pay and allowance bills” by DDOs and were compounded by the failure of Treasury Officers (TOs) to exercise prescribed checks. The total fraudulent or excess drawal was Rs 68 lakh, of which Rs 19.74 lakh remains unrecovered as of June 2023.
It pointed out that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had discussed four paragraphs on such fraudulent drawals from the Audit Reports for 2014-15 to 2016-17 and had recommended recovery of the amounts and disciplinary action against defaulting DDOs and Treasury Officers.
As per the PAC reports, the concerned Departments were required to submit the ATNs on the recommendations of the PAC within two months from the date of laying the Reports of the PAC to the Legislature. “The concerned Departments, however, did not provide the ATNs for the recommendations made by the PAC. This non-compliance with the PAC's recommendations resulted in further irregularities,” the CAG report stated.
The audit examined pay bill vouchers from various departments submitted by the Treasury Officer to the Principal Accountant General (A&E), Nagaland, for the period 2016-17 to 2019-20.
It found that 13 DDOs from 10 departments had “fraudulently drawn Rs 0.68 crore by inflating the net total of pay bills, double drawal of pay and allowances, arrears, etc., in violation of the prescribed Financial Rules.” When the matter was intimated to the Departments, they recovered and deposited Rs 48.61 lakh into Government Account (as of June 2023). However, report on initiating disciplinary action against the defaulting officials was not furnished, it reported.
The CAG report mentioned that during the period from 2016-2017 to 2021-2022, Audit pointed out the issue 180 Chapter-IV: General Sector of fraudulent/excess drawal by the DDOs, of which the “Departments of School Education, Health & Family Welfare, Home (Police) and Veterinary & Animal Husbandry had the most cases of irregularities.”
The audit pointed that in all cases, the DDOs prepared the pay bills/arrear bills and presented the same to the Government Treasuries without ensuring accuracy of the arithmetic calculations and the required certificates (Non-Drawal Certificates). The TOs also did not conduct the necessary checks before authorising the payments.
“The failure of the DDOs and TOs to comply with the provisions under CTR and Receipt and Payment Rules, while preparing and passing the bills, indicates a possible collusion in fraudulent drawals,” it remarked.
“Thus, due to the failure of the concerned Departments to comply with the instructions of PAC, the objective of ensuring financial accountability of the Executive to the Legislature remained unfulfilled, while allowing these financial malpractices to persist,” the report stated.
The CAG has recommended that the state government investigate all such matters in respect of various Departments of the State and fix responsibility and initiate disciplinary action against the erring officers responsible for the excess, double or suspected fraudulent drawals.
It also recommended to take steps to recover the amount misappropriated immediately from the concerned employees, DDOs and TOs with penal interest, and additionally initiate steps to strengthen the internal control mechanism in all departments to prevent recurrence of fraudulent drawals and ensure that appropriate checks and balances are in place.
Cases of Excess/Fraudulent Drawals
Nature of Objections | Audit observations | Action Taken by Departments concerned |
Excess drawal by inflating net total of pay bills | One DDO from a Department drew funds of Rs 82.84 lakh in 30 pay bills by irregularly inflating the net total, while the actual admissible amount was Rs 71.39 lakh. This resulted in an excess drawal of Rs 11.45 lakh between December 2018 and January 2019. | Upon being notified, the DDO recovered an amount of Rs one lakh (January to May 2023) and deposited it into the Government account. The remaining balance of Rs 10.45 lakh is yet to be recovered (August 2023) |
Double drawal of pay & allowances including arrears | Six DDOs from five Departments fraudulently drew funds of Rs 19.35 lakh during March 2017 to March 2020 in eighteen bills for pay & allowances and arrears, which had already been drawn in regular bills. This resulted in a fraudulent drawal of Rs 19.35 lakh. | Upon being notified, four DDOs have recovered an amount of Rs 13.02 lakh (October 2020 to May 2022) and deposited it into the Government account. The remaining balance of Rs 6.33 lakh is yet to be recovered (August 2023). |
Fraudulent/ inadmissible drawal of pay & allowances including arrears | Seven DDOs from six Departments fraudulently drew funds of Rs 37.55 lakh in 51 arrear bills during March 2017 to March 2019 by preparing fictitious 'due and drawn' statements for employees who were not entitled to draw arrears. | Upon being notified, six DDOs have recovered an amount of Rs 34.59 lakh (February 2021 to June 2023) and deposited it into the Government account. The remaining balance of Rs 2.96 lakh is yet to be recovered (August 2023). |
Source: C&AG Report
