Odisha: CAG uncovers Rs 148.75 Cr suspected misappropriation of govt funds in ITDAs by JEs & AEs
A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report which was tabled in the Assembly today by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has uncovered serious financial irregularities in the management of government funds by Integrated Tribal Development Agencies (ITDAs) in Odisha.
Bhubaneswar: A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report which was tabled in the Assembly today by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has uncovered serious financial irregularities in the management of government funds by Integrated Tribal Development Agencies (ITDAs) in Odisha.
The audit–covering 2018-19 to 2022-23 across 11 sampled ITDAs–found suspected misappropriation of Rs 148.75 crore from 71 bank accounts operated by Junior Engineers (JE) and Assistant Engineers (AE).
Bank statements revealed ATM withdrawals, self-drawn cheques, POS payments, UPI transfers, mobile recharges, insurance premium payments, and even investments in mutual funds/stock markets–all unrelated to departmental works.
Out of the ₹1,709.47 crore allocated to 20 ITDAs during the period, only ₹1,190.44 crore (70%) was spent in the sampled agencies.
The CAG report also revealed that a total of 169 invoices lacked names, 44 were duplicates, while 21 were issued without GST registration.
This apart, materials worth ₹54.25 crore were procured from cooperative societies without tenders, despite the Co-operation Department withdrawing their privileges in 2005.
The PA, ITDA, Paralakhemundi purchased musical instruments worth ₹3.74 crore against an administrative approval of only ₹73.60 lakh.
RA Bill Discrepancies: In 544 test-checked works, ₹20.71 crore was spent while vouchers supported only ₹17.33 crore.
The CAG also has urged the ST & SC Development Department to:
- Ensure annual audits of ITDAs’ financial statements.
- Stop irregular bank account operations by JEs/AEs.
- Enforce OPWD Code procedures to strengthen financial discipline.
The CAG also flagged irregularities in Odisha Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS) tendering, causing undue benefits to selected software firm.
The CCTNS, a ₹176.16 crore project jointly funded by the Centre and Odisha, has faced serious lapses in planning, execution and monitoring.
A CAG audit revealed irregularities in the tendering process by the State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB), which gave undue advantages to the chosen software services provider.
Key audit findings include:
- Data Digitisation Gaps: The contract required digitisation of 10 years of old case records (2001–2010) and open cases before 2001. Instead, SCRB limited it to 2003–2012, violating contract terms.
- Faulty Data Migration: Incomplete and erroneous migration from earlier systems left the database unreliable for retrieving pre-2013 records.
- Control Deficiencies: Poor mapping of police stations, weak user access controls, and continued manual processes hindered supervision of criminal cases.
- Business Rule Failures: Missing application controls led to discrepancies, including 5,566 missing complaints of minors without FIR registration.
- Good Practices: SCRB introduced a color-coded ranking tool to monitor district performance and launched the Arakhi mobile app to help officers generate and upload records in real time.
- The audit underscores the need for stricter oversight, accurate data migration, and stronger controls to ensure effective policing under CCTNS.
