The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) will conduct an audit performance of all schemes under the Ministries of Rural Development and Drinking Water and Sanitation on expenditure incurred over a period spanning the past five years in 12 States.
Making the announcement, Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said this would send a message to the States to take irregularities in the annual spending of close to Rs.1 lakh crore seriously, plug the loopholes and ensure proper execution of development and welfare schemes. The CAG audit will cover the outgo of an estimated Rs.3.5 crore during the past five years.
“The state governments and the gram panchayats should be held accountable for all the expenditure and none should come up with the excuse of pushing the blame on someone else for the expenditure on these schemes,” Mr. Ramesh said.
In the first phase, the CAG will audit the expenditures under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It will be the second such exercise relating to the scheme. The earlier audit was a limited exercise to gauge its impact after its launch.
The current assignment covers a much wider spectrum covering 12 States — Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.
These States were selected for the first phase of audit as they accounted for the major share of the expenditure incurred during the past five years. The other States would be audited later.
Apart from drawing up a checklist to monitor expenditure at the Central and State levels, an expert committee has been set up to prepare a common accounting format for all schemes in consultation with the CAG.
Asked if the CAG was likely to judge the efficacy of the schemes being pursued as it had done in the case of purchase of aircraft by Air India, Mr. Ramesh said that he did not expect the CAG to question the programmes, and pointed out that the CAG had itself denied that it had made any attempt to question the government's policies.
To another question, Mr. Ramesh said he would write to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati again to seek her concurrence for a CBI probe into the alleged embezzlement of MGNREGS funds in seven districts.
Ms. Mayawati, in her letter to the Prime Minister, had turned down the request for a CBI probe and charged Mr. Ramesh's action as politically motivated.
