Panchayat funds: Accused of impropriety, auditors face axe

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 17

The Punjab Government is likely to change the third-party auditors hired by the previous SAD-BJP government for auditing the accounts of over 13,000 panchayats in the state.

Reason: A large number of complaints of impropriety has been received against the auditors. The Rural Development and Panchayats Department has already held discussions as to who could replace the auditors. Panchayats have complained that “unnecessary demands” were being raised by the auditors.

The government pays Rs 7,000 per panchayat as audit fee. The department is flooded with complaints that the panchayat members are being forced to cough up a similar or higher amount for extending “hospitality” towards the auditors. A senior official told The Tribune that even the work done by the auditors was very slow and in the past two years, only 2,000 panchayat accounts had been audited.

The auditors have also failed to find any irregularity in the accounts audited so far, thus giving credence to the complaints that the exercise was a mere eyewash.

“The previous government had ordered the audit of these accounts because of suspicion of irregularities in the panchayat funds, especially the accounts related to MNREGA. But the auditors have failed to point out a single anomaly. They have already audited the accounts of panchayats that got the maximum grants,” said the officer.

The department is also examining the audited reports of these 2,000 panchayats. When contacted, Tripat Rajinder Bajwa, Rural Development Minister, said there was a rethink on the auditors who had done the audit of some panchayats.

Under the scanner

• Panchayat members have alleged that they are forced to cough up large sums on extending “hospitality” to the auditors
• A senior official says even the work done by the auditors is slow as only 2,000 accounts have been audited in 
• two years.
• Even in those accounts, the auditors failed to find any irregularity