Social activist Arvind Kejriwal’s demand of Law Minister Salman Khurshid’s removal from the Union Cabinet is backed by an inspection report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the grants released by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for 2011-12. The report is yet to be tabled in Parliament.
In its inspection report, the Director General of Audit Central Expenditure, under CAG, detected a “fraud” in the accounts of Dr Zakir Hussain Trust, run by Khurshid. It had also recommended the recovery of the entire grant, along with interest.
However, Louise Khurshid, the law minister’s wife, has said CAG was yet to consider her evidence against the findings of the report and, therefore, what it said wasn’t true. A PTI report quoted Louise as saying, “The ministry should have given the accounts we submitted... All these proofs are with the ministry… Why has the ministry not given all these proofs?”
She said she had spoken to the CAG office, adding she was assured her views would be incorporated. She told reporters she had certificates for expenditure at the camps, which she would submit to CAG on Monday. She added the prime minister and the Congress president’s offices had been informed of this.
A CAG team had visited Khurshid’s residence a number of times. However, as no one was present in the premises on these occasions, the report could not be finalised.
The report says camps purported to have been held hadn’t actually been conducted on the dates mentioned by the trust. The report also takes the ministry to task for not verifying facts before releasing the next instalment of funds, Rs 68 lakh, for the following year.
Kejriwal, who was released from police detention today, drew courage from the report, resuming his protest in front of the Parliament Street police station here. He is demanding Khurshid be arrested for alleged misappropriation of funds from the Ministry of Social Justice by his trust. The CAG report reads “misappropriation of a grant of Rs 71.5 lakh, interest of Rs 15.49 lakh thereon and the irregular release of a further grant of Rs 68.25 lakh”. It also provides the details of the funds the trust received. According to the report, on the basis of recommendations of the Uttar Pradesh government, a grant-in aid of Rs 71.5 lakh was sanctioned to Dr Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust Delhi, as a non-recurring grant in 2009-10 for distributing aid and appliances under a scheme to be implemented in 17 districts across Uttar Pradesh.
A test check of at least 5-10 per cent of the beneficiaries to whom aids and appliances were to be given was carried out by the field agency constituted by the recommending authority, and the results were forwarded to the ministry. Photographs of the camp for distribution of aids and appliances, along with those of press clippings, etc, were also scheduled to be submitted to the ministry, with the proposal of releasing additional grants under the scheme.
Missing camps
The records relating to the utilisation of grants — camps, inspection and purchase of aids and appliances in the state —revealed a set of dates of events/transactions. However, letters from the trust to district magistrates revealed the trust didn’t hold any camp in 2010.
The CAG report says, “A test check of records relating to Bareilly, Siddhartha Nagar and Shahjahapur, for instance, showed letters by the trust dated April 1, 2010, addressed to district magistrates of these districts stating the trust intended to hold camps for the grant sanctioned by the ministry for 2009-10.”
This indicates in these districts, camps were not held before April 2010. Thus, the information provided by the trust to the ministry was incorrect. In November 2011, the ministry had requested the special secretary, Department of Disabled Welfare, to confirm the veracity of the test check reports submitted by the trust for the grants released in 2009-10.
Referring to the letter, on September 16, 2011, the chief development officer and the district magistrate of Allahabad confirmed no camp was organised by the trust till then.
Thus, of the 17 districts, no camp was held in Allahabad, Bareilly, Siddhartha Nagar and Shahjahapur. In the remaining districts, camps were organised during the January-March period of 2010. However, the aid and the appliances were used in July. In the case of Sant Ravidas Nagar, inspection was carried out on June 4, 2010, while the aid and the appliances were dispatched by the supplier on July 19.
Fresh grants sanctioned
The report states, “Instead of recovering the grants, along with the interest of Rs 15.49 lakh at 10 per cent a year from April 2010 to May 2012, the ministry released a grant of Rs 68.25 lakh (March 2011) for 2010-11 to implement the scheme in the 17 districts for which a grant of Rs 71.5 lakh was released in 2009-10. According to the terms and conditions of the sanctions, a utilisation certificate was to be furnished within six months of the end of the financial year…However, no utilisation certificate was received till the date of audit.”
It adds, “It can be concluded that on one hand, the entire grant of Rs 71.50 lakh was not utilised by the trust for the purpose for which it was sanctioned, while on the other, a wrong report regarding organisation of the camp was given by the trust.”
Suspected fraud
“No response from the trust was received in respect to our communication. This finding in the ministry, and the chain of events relating to the audit of the trust, indicates suspected fraud in the accounts of the trust. On this issue, the ministry stated the trust is not under the aegis of this ministry. The reply of the ministry is factually incorrect, as the grants have been released by the Ministry of Social justice & Empowerment to the trust and according to the provisions of the sanction order, the accounts of the trust would be open for audit by CAG of India. Hence, control, with respect to getting the audit of the trust conducted by the CAG of India, rests with the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment and in event of non-compliance of conditions of the sanction order, the ministry may take action against the trust,” the report says.
Ministry’s defence
In response to the audit observation, the ministry, in its reply, stated due to paucity of time, the test check reports for 2009-10, submitted directly by the trust, were accepted, subject to the condition these would be confirmed separately. Regarding the camps in January-March 2010 and the procurement of aid and appliances in July 2010, it was stated the matter would be clarified from the non-government organisation.
Recover funds with interest
“The reply is not tenable as the guidelines stipulate that test check reports must come through the state government and the ministry failed to properly scrutinise the information furnished by the Trust relating to holding of camps for distribution of aids and appliances. In the light of the above it is suggested that grant of Rs 71.5 lakh may be recovered from the trust along with up to date interest on it,” the CAG says.
