Hindustan Times: Chandigarh: Sunday, May 26, 2013.
The secrecy
fund of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) chairman, which was Rs. 10.50
crore in the year 2010-11, came down to Rs. 1.94 crore in the year 2012-13.
It has come
out in details secured under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. The fund
is meant for work pertaining to the secrecy of various examinations and the
printing of question papers. The board spends a major portion of it (about Rs.
6 crore in the year 2010-11) on buying paper.
The
information secured by lawyer HC Arora suggests that in a meeting on March 12,
where the principal secretary in the education department led the proceedings,
it was decided that the examiner, local fund accounts, would audit the secrecy
fund for the year 2012-13. The secrecy fund was earlier immune from audit and
the chairman only needed to submit the utilisation certificates at the end of
year to auditors.
After Arora's
public-interest petition, the Punjab and Haryana high court issued directions
for showing the board's accounts to qualified auditors. Arora had sought
directions to the PSEB to adopt a satisfactory method of audit.
The RTI
investigation also suggested that in the meeting on March 12, it was noted that
of the Rs. 2 crore kept as secrecy fund for the year 2012-13, the chairperson
had spent Rs. 1.94 crore.
.JPG)
.JPG)
