Suspected fraud in Odisha scholarship scheme: CAG report
In its performance audit report of the two scholarship schemes, the CAG found suspected syphoning of Rs 15.79 crore, due to lack of detailed procedure for inspections of institutions by District Welfare Officers (DWOs), before issue of User IDs for the scholarship portal.
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The CAG recommended the state government to investigate the suspected fraud in the payment of PMS in all districts to fix responsibility on the defaulting officials. It also asked the state SC/ST development department, implementing agency of the PMS, to frame detailed guidelines for inspection of institutes, prior to their registration on the scheme portal.
The comptroller and auditor general (CAG), in a report tabled in Assembly Tuesday, observed “suspected fraud and corruption” in implementation of Post-Matric Scholarships (PMS) and the Medhabruti scheme implemented by two different departments of the Odisha government.
In its performance audit report of the two scholarship schemes, the CAG found suspected syphoning of Rs 15.79 crore, due to lack of detailed procedure for inspections of institutions by District Welfare Officers (DWOs), before issue of User IDs for the scholarship portal.
According to the report, the audit noticed that 30 institutes in six sampled districts registered in the portal meant for PMS during 2017-20, had obtained affiliation from the Bharat Sevak Samaj (BSS), Tamil Nadu and the National Council of Vocational Research and Training (NCVRT), New Delhi — which were not eligible agencies to grant affiliation to institutes for running Diploma courses.
“… due to the non-incorporation of detailed criteria in the system, as well as lack of monitoring on the part of the department, 5,185 students had already been granted scholarships of Rs 15.79 crore, irregularly,” said an audit officer quoting the report.
While joint physical inspection of 16 institutes affiliated by NCVRT and BSS were carried out in September and October 2021 in presence of the auditor, it was found that eight of these 16 verified during the joint verification were not in existence. The other eight had stopped functioning from 2020, after rejection of their applications by the DWO.
One institute in Mayurbhanj district did not have its own physical infrastructure like classroom, workshop and staffroom and was using the infrastructure of another neighbouring institute. In seven other institutes, the infrastructure was found to be inadequate compared to the number of students admitted. In one institute, only classrooms were available for 792 students and the institute had no workshop for students.
The CAG recommended the state government to investigate the suspected fraud in the payment of PMS in all districts to fix responsibility on the defaulting officials. It also asked the state SC/ST development department, implementing agency of the PMS, to frame detailed guidelines for inspection of institutes, prior to their registration on the scheme portal.
The audit report also stated that as many as 2,996 students of 22 sampled institutes in six sampled districts had been paid PMS, amounting to Rs 7.36 crore during 2017-18 to 2020-21, even after their discontinuance of the concerned courses. Due to non-interlinking of softwares meant for PMS and Medhabruti scheme, 11,880 students had been granted both PMS and Medhabruti during 2017 to 2021 — observed the CAG.
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