Last Updated on April 15, 2022 at 11:03 am
Autonomous bodies in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh have high pendency to submit the accounts for audit since many years.
It has come to fore of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India that 56 Autonomous Bodies have not submitted accounts for audit even after receiving funds from the budget. Nearly 811annual accounts which need to be audited were awaited from of 56 Autonomous Bodies as on October 2019.
The certification audit of accounts of Autonomous Bodies is conducted under Section 19(3) and 20(1) of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (DPC) Act 1971. These bodies submit the annual accounts to audit before June 30 every year. But, ten Autonomous Bodies which were to render annual accounts to CAG, 84 accounts were not rendered for the period ranging between one to 24 years.
As per reports these include, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh; Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Kargil; Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Srinagar and Jammu; Employees Provident Fund Board, Srinagar; Jammu and Kashmir Housing Board; Khadi Village and Industries Board; Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and State Legal Services Authority. Similarly SKUAST, Kashmir, SKUAST, Jammu, EPF Board, Srinagar, KVIB, BOCWWB and SLSA have also not submitted their accounts for audit for the period ranging between one to nine years.
CAG said that delay in submission of accounts is a matter of concern and is a major financial irregularity since years. Audit institution said that government should look in to the matter of delay as financial irregularities due to delay in accounts goes unchecked.
CAG said about the audit of companies that only three companies were audited till 2018-19 and for one company and one corporation, accounts were audited up to 2017-18. For 17 Companies/Corporations audit of accounts is in arrear for the period ranging between 5 to 19 years.
