Grants to Army ‘misused’, accounts dept seeks action

Vijay Mohan 

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

Finding widespread misuse of training grants allocated to army units in the Western Command, the Defence Accounts Department (DAD) has called for urgent corrective measures to be taken for checking financial irregularities and procedural lapses.

A report circulated to various establishments by the Controller General of Defence Accounts last week has revealed that contrary to instructions from Army Headquarters, majority of units have utilised Annual Training Grants (ATG) and Technical Training and Instructional Equipment Grants (TTIEG) for procurement of unauthorised items, defeating the very purpose for which they were allocated.

These grants are meant for activities like training camps, manoeuvres, tactical exercises, conferences and courses, fabrication and maintenance of instructional equipment and procurement of training stores. The major portion of these grants, however, were spent on purchasing items like air conditioners, TV sets, furniture and furnishings, garments, computer peripherals and sports equipment. 

 The annual allotment of TTIEG for Western Command in 2015 and 2016 was Rs 19.48 crore and Rs 30.31 crore, out of which over 15 per cent and 9 per cent respectively, remained unspent. For ATG, the allocations for 2015 and 2016 were Rs 25.13 crore and Rs 16.77 crore, out of which 47 per cent and 12 per cent remained unspent.

The report also pointed out that in a considerable number of cases, quotations were obtained from suppliers not directly dealing with the items procured. A Special Forces unit procured various types of garments, bags, gloves etc from vendors dealing in electronic equipment, furniture and stationery. Further, different suppliers had the same telephone printed on their quotations.

Procuring items repeatedly in smaller quantities spread over a period to bring the expenditure within the financial powers of lower sanctioning authorities and rush of expenditure towards the end of the fiscal are other objections raised in the report.