Overview

• The review covered financial years 2018-19 to 2022-23 across 11 of 22 ITDAs and found irrelevant transactions totaling Rs 148.75 crore in 67 of 71 bank accounts.
• Government funds of Rs 621.79 crore were routed to these accounts for departmentally executed works, with junior and assistant engineers operating the accounts.
• Bank statements reflected personal use such as ATM withdrawals, cheque and POS payments, insurance premiums, mobile recharges and UPI transfers, which the auditor treated as suspected misappropriation.
• Sampled agencies had not prepared mandatory annual accounts under the Societies Registration Act and bypassed OPWD procurement rules by engaging contractors without open tenders.
• The CAG called on the SC/ST Development Department to stop engineers operating project accounts, review all JE/AE transactions across ITDAs and fix responsibility, with no subsequent departmental actions reported yet.