CAG raps JU for ‘lackadaisical’ attitude towards fund use

Arteev Sharma
Tribune News Service
Jammu, September 18

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has rapped the University of Jammu for “poor planning and lackadaisical attitude” towards proper utilisation of funds released by various agencies for creating proposed infrastructure at Patnitop campus.

According to the CAG findings, an amount of Rs 2 crore out of total Rs 30 crore was earmarked under Prime Minister’s package (in 2004) for proposed Centre for Extension Activities and Outreach Programme of the university at Patnitop, some 110-km away from its main campus in Jammu, in Udhampur district.

“The campus was approved in the University Council, the apex body of the university, meeting on April 21, 2006. The audit observed that the centre could not be established due to failure of the university to take over the possession of 6 kanals land allotted to it by the Patnitop Development Authority (PDA) in May 2006 on a leasehold basis for 90 years, or identify any alternate land in its place over a period of more than a decade,” the CAG said in its Compliance Audit Inspection report on the accounts of JU for the period 2015-16 to 2017-18.

“As many as 431 kanals of land transferred to the university by the state government in Madha village of Chenani tehsil in 2013 also continued to remain unproductive due to non-availability of approach road. In June 2013, the university authorities were instructed to get the DPRs for guest house and approach ready for onward submission to UGC for seeking approval to utilise 1 crore grant allocated to the centre out of PM’s package,” the CAG noted.

The DPRs amounting to Rs 1.77 crore was forwarded to the UGC for the construction of the proposed road and guest house in 2014-15 after a lapse of two years with request to release the remaining grant of Rs 1 crore, the CAG said, adding that the matter, however, was not followed up and there was nothing on record to indicate the fate of the DPR.

“As of March 2019, no construction activity had been initiated on the land transferred to make the centre functional despite availability of funds due to absence of any approach road to the campus site. The unspent grant of Rs 1 crore remained parked with the university resulting in its blockade and consequent non-accrual of intended benefits of providing skill-oriented technical courses intended to be provided through the outreach centre,” it said.

The CAG also pointed out that the university also failed to utilise a grant of Rs 15 lakh released for the campus by the Union Government for the construction of a boundary wall and development of a green campus due to procedural delays and non-preparation of DPR resulting in lapsing of funds.

While the CAG report said the university’s Assistant Registrar (Development) claimed that the matter regarding approach road had been taken up with the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Udhampur, in February 2019, DC Piyush Singla countered it saying, “No such matter has been brought into my notice”.