Bangalore Mirror: Bangalore: Monday,
October 03, 2016.
RTIs expose
some contractors paid in excess of contract amounts; missing files indicate
possibilities of foul play.
Known for its
pledging spree while not even sparing heritage buildings it owns, what makes
BBMP’s coffers bleed so badly? Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has conceded
to the State Information Commission (SIC) that it has not taken any proactive
measures to recover arrears to the tune of Rs 1,286.19 crore accumulated over a
period of 18 years (1995 to 2014).
The city
corporation has also been accused of skirting information on its audit reports
including to various objections raised and compliance action taken up in at
least 80 RTI applications, which has been taken up by the SIC for hearing at
the moment.
“Though a
circular submitted to the information commission signed by the BBMP
commissioner details compliance reports sought by way of recovery to be made,
no such report has been submitted to the information commission till date,” an
SIC official told BM.
The
revelation about the arrears came when BBMP filed a submission at one of the
ongoing hearings in the matter. RTI activists pointed out that if the interest
and penalty is accrued for this massive arrears, then the figure could be as
high as Rs 4,000 crore.
Interestingly,
some of these audit objections reveal that the BBMP has been making excess
payment to some of the road contractors in excess of the final estimate fixed
at the time of awarding the contract for the civic work. An information
commission official also told BM that some of the vital files about some
financial transactions have reportedly gone missing, indicating the possibility
of foul play.
“In an
instance pertaining to a road work, an amount to the tune of Rs 7 crore has
been paid in excess of the estimate, which the audit has ordered for recovery.
In another work, recovery of Rs 3 crore has been recommended from the
contractor concerned.
Interestingly,
now some files pertaining to these works and funds released have gone missing.
The cause of delay in recovering arrears has no justification in any way as the
audit report has already been submitted to government and can’t be modified for
the year’s information sought. If it were in the review stage, one could defend
the delay. Here it is the non-compliance report that is resulting in the
non-recovery of Rs 1,286.19 crore,” the SIC official told BM.
The internal
audit wing of the civic body had raised objections over financial transactions
of Rs 4,823.64 crore inclusive of both arrears to be recovered and other
expenditure incurred from its general funds. It was also recommended that Rs
1,345.95 crore be recovered and the officials filed a compliance report for Rs
350.96 crore, which was earlier objected to by the audit department. It was
also furnished that a partial recovery of Rs 59.76 crore out of the total Rs
1,345.95 crore was done without any further information on the pending Rs 1,286.19
crore.
“Objections
raised by the audit department over some financial transactions could be
rectified later by submitting receipts and details about those specific
financial transactions to senior officials of the urban development department.
If the final figures tally during this revaluation, the objections raised
during the initial audit could be waived off. But arrears cannot be written
off. The BBMP has to take initiative to recover them,” said the SIC official.
According to BH Veeresh, the complainant in these cases, maximum arrears were
recorded against the engineering and town planning sections of the city
municipal corporation. The information furnished before the commission has also
revealed the inaction of officials concerned ranging from department heads to
zonal, additional, joint and assistant commissioner ranked officials. “Because
of their inaction, the civic body tries to reject all RTI applications
regarding these audit reports details,” Veeresh added.
He also added
that the callous attitude of these officials was despite an official circular
from the commissioner warning disciplinary action against officials not taking
steps to recover arrears. SIC officials pointed out that standard excuses in
such situations range from claiming that the officer was not in charge during
the time of audit to lack of availability of documents and transfer of official
concerned.
The
arrears
Veeresh, who
has taken two cases of such inaction to recover arrears with regard to audit
reports to lokayukta one pertaining to assistant revenue officer,
Bommanahalli where the arrears stood at Rs 84.91 crore and another pertaining
to additional director town planning, filing two complaints said that a
complaint would be lodged on the Rs 1,286.19 crore arrears and official
inaction to recover it once lokayukta is appointed as a complaint against brass
including the mayor, deputy mayor or commissioner can’t be filed before the upa
lokayukta considering the jurisdictional aspect.
“An official
who fails to act has to be held responsible for the recommended recovery after
a period of six months. But as per information provided to the information
commission, even that has not happened. Once the compliance report is submitted
by BBMP, we will pursue the case with the lokayukta,” Veeresh added.
Out of over
700 different offices from which recovery was made, an information commission
official explained that engineering, infrastructure and town planning offices
contributed the most.
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