The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found that the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) "overpaid" Rs 32.87 lakh to a private agency, out of which it recovered Rs 11.64 lakh later at the instance of its audit.
In a report presented in the Parliament today, the CAG said that while reviewing the attendance records of personnel deployed by the agency, audit observed that the number of personnel actually deployed was less than the claim made by the agency and paid by ICSSR.
"This led to the overpayment of Rs 32.87 lakh to the agency between May 2010 and June 2014. On the basis of the Audit observation, ICSSR limited the recovery (February 2015) from the agency to Rs 11.64 lakh on the ground that balance was not recoverable since the payment was made on the basis of the then prevailing monthly rates and number of extra duty hours," the auditor said.
However, the fact remained that the agency itself did not claim the higher monthly rates or the extra duty hours, but instead wrongly claimed reimbursement for deployment of additional security personnel, the CAG said in its report.
Therefore the excess payment by ICSSR is not acceptable, it added.
In its report tabled in the Parliament, the CAG found "inadequacies" in the administration of several educational institutes.
In the case of IIT Guwahati it said that defective piling work done by contractor led to tilting of hostel blocks causing damage to 144 rooms and two toilet blocks.
Though the failure of the contractor was established by experts, IITG had not recovered the expenditure of Rs 5.97 crore incurred on the construction of these damaged rooms and toilet blocks which remained unutilised.
With respect to IIT Kharagpur, it said that in violation of LTC Rules, reimbursed an amount of Rs 62.03 lakh for journeys performed by its faculty and staff by private vehicles while availing LTC were made.
