Officers Who Oversaw CAG Reports Transferred, Found Irregularities In Government Schemes (Image: cag.gov.in)
The opposition has accused the Union Government of presiding over scams in its flagship schemes and has demanded accountability from the Prime Minister. Twelve audit reports that were presented at the Parliament’s Monsoon session has revealed corruption and irregularities in the government offices. The Comptroller and Audit General (CAG) has transferred three officers who have been involved in two of these reports. The transfer orders were issued on September 12, after the conclusion of the tabling of the reports at the Monsoon session which ended on August 11, 2023, the Wire reported.
The opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took up the issue and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over corruption and irregularities. These accusations were revealed in the reports to Dwarka Expressway project and Ayushman Bharat. The three officers who have been transferred belonged to the Indian Audit and Administrative Service (IA&AS).
Under order 1901, Atoorva Sinha, the principal director of audit, Infrastructure (PDA, Infrastructure), New Delhi has been transferred to Kerala. The officer oversaw the CAG report on highway projects under the Implementation of Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I (BPP-1) which had huge overrun costs in the Dwaraka Expressway project. The reports saw that costs were pushed high, the National Highway Authority of India’s (NHAI) plan for a carriageway in Haryana had pushed the costs from the approved Rs 18.20 crore to 250.77 crore per kilometre.
The order also saw the transfer of Dattaprasad Suryakant Shirsat Director (AMG II), Director General of Audit, Central Expenditure, New Delhi. Mr. Shirsat oversaw the Audit of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, the Union Government (Civil) National Health Authority Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, bringing out corruption in the health care scheme. Ashok Sinha, director general (North Central Region) has also been transferred. He oversaw the audit of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – Union Government (Civil) National Health Authority Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The audit, apart from revealing corruption in insurance settlement and dates, pointed out that huge amounts of money was being claimed by ‘deceased’ in the database. The transfer and the posting orders have not been put up online, the Wire said.
The current CAG, Girish Chandra Murmu was appointed in 2020. He was the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir after the removal of Article 370 and being made a Union Territory. He belongs to the1985-batch Gujarat cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
