SHILLONG, June 16: Financial mismanagement and allegations of gross anomalies in implementation of schemes have been the hallmark of the autonomous district councils. In the absence of any monitoring by the state government particularly the District Council Affairs department, the three ADCs have been using the “long rope of autonomy” to get away with their misadventures.
Despite a multitude of allegations of gross financial anomalies in the ADCs and the growing demand for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the state government paid no heed and, instead, ordered an audit of the JHADC and GHADC accounts for the last 10 years, to be conducted by the Directorate of Local Fund Audit (DLFA).
As was expected, the DLFA detected several anomalies in the implementation of centrally sponsored schemes under the Special Assistance Grant (SAG) by both the GHADC and JHADC.
It compiled a report on its findings and submitted it to the DCA department which wrote to both the district councils in February seeking their response on the DLFA findings but is yet to get the response.
A senior government official on Thursday told The Shillong Times that neither the GHADC nor the JHADC replied to the letters sent by the DCA department in February. “We will write to them again reminding them to respond to our letters sent in February. We will decide what needs to be done if the two councils again ignore to our letters,” the official said.
According to the senior official, the three ADCs, including the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council, are already under the radar of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for their failure to prepare and submit accounts on time.
The official recalled that Governor Satya Pal Malik recently asked Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma to take note of the anomalies.
The governor had stated that an inquiry could be possibly instituted to probe non submission of accounts by the three autonomous district councils to the CAG. He said necessary action needs to be taken, if required a probe, on the reason behind the non-submission of accounts to the CAG for the past few years.
In its letter to the governor, the CAG had pointed out as many as ten accounts — two of KHADC, three of JHADC and five of the GHADC had not been submitted.
The CAG had mentioned that the deficiencies in the ADCs had been communicated to Chief Secretary RV Suchiang on March 17, the chief executive members of the respective councils on March 23 and the chief minister on March 30, but no action was taken by any of the authorities.
