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Audit flags irregularities in Gurgaon civic body's accounts, rule violations

Audit flags irregularities in Gurgaon civic body's accounts, rule violations

Time of India3 days ago
Gurgaon: Flagging financial irregularities worth Rs 9.1 crore in the 2023-24 fiscal year, a govt auditor in its report said that the corporation's accounts were "in a miserable condition" and in "need of improvement and closer supervision".
The Haryana Local Audit department, said in the report released on Wednesday, that the corporation made advance payments of Rs 5.8 crore to other govt departments for development work.
These advances, the report said, were often "drawn arbitrarily", even if they weren't required, reflecting a "sorry state of affairs".
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On this, the auditor recommended that unutilised advance amounts should be refunded by the departments to MCG.
Another Rs 3.2 crore was spent by MCG for projects awarded on quotation by the contractors instead of following the mandatory bidding process. This, the auditor said, was a clear violation of norms.
The report, accessed by TOI, is set to be tabled at the MCG House when it convenes on Aug 11 to form the civic body's finance and contracts committee (FCC).
The state auditor raised questions about other practices by MCG.
It pointed out that the contract for treating waste at Bandhwari landfill site was originally given to Ecogreen Envirotech.
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Later, work at the landfill was sub-contracted to other firms and the cost was to be borne by Ecogreen.
The auditor has sought a response from MCG and said that, if required, the corporation should recover from Ecogreen the amount spent on the sub-contracts.
The report noted that MCG went beyond its financial limit of Rs 2.5 crore a year in operating two of its cow shelters.
"No concrete action was taken on the last audit report (2022-23); cases of temporary advances were noticed; excess/irregular and avoidable expenditure were noticed; irregularities noticed in works accounts of the MC (municipal corporation); cases of non/short recoveries and losses were pointed out; defective maintenance of record/non-completion of record were noticed; miscellaneous observations…" the auditor said.
MCG commissioner Pradeep Dahiya could not be reached for a comment till Thursday night. The corporation gets time to respond to the auditor's concerns, after which the govt takes a final call on measures to be taken.
Kuldeep Yadav, elected as the councillor from ward 11 this March, told TOI that these irregularities took place when the MCG House was not constituted.
"There was no check on payments made to contractors by MCG officials and staff. We will seek clarification from officials on the irregularities flagged in the audit report at the meeting on Aug 11," Yadav said.
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