The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has recommended that the Lotteries Department pursue the Crime Branch case on the repeated winning of Kerala lottery prizes by persons hailing from particular addresses.
The CAG report on Revenue Receipts for 2012, which was placed in the Assembly on Tuesday, said that on analysing the data on the prize-winning tickets, it was found that 1,162 major prizes above Rs.1 lakh and amounting to Rs.216.19 crore were claimed by persons residing in other States during 2008-09 — 2010-11. The same was true with 344 prizes amounting to Rs.27.31 crore that were claimed during the same period. Of 344 prizes, 69 prizes worth Rs.3.94 crore were won repeatedly by persons residing at 30 households in Mumbai.
This is a pointer to the possibility of fraudulent practices in claiming prizes. On citing the case in audit, the Lotteries Department stated that claims submitted from Thane and Mumbai in Maharashtra were referred to the Crime Branch, Economic Offences Wing, here. It was also stated that the matter was taken up with the government and due to stringent action, the number of outside claims seemed reduced. The CAG recommended to pursue the case for ensuring credibility.
The department had not tested the reliability of the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) used for ensuring the genuineness of the tickets.
Chicken
As much as 63.88 lakh kg of live chicken was transported through the Commercial Taxes check-post, Gopalapuram, for nine months during 2010-11 using the transit pass which was surrendered at the check-post at Kunjipally, 4 km from Mahe. The average transportation for the year was 85.18 lakh kg. As per the per capita annual consumption pattern, the chicken that could be consumed in Mahe with a population of 41,934 was 5.04 lakh kg. The excess quantity of 80.14 lakh kg would have been diverted to Kerala, the report said.
