CAG find: Rs 450 per month turned into Rs 25,450

According to the report, conveyance allowance of Rs 450 per month was allowed for head constables of the force and Rs 400 per month for constables. However, while making claims, the head constables and constables, often prefixed ’25’ and ’20’ in front of their original amounts, thereby drawing Rs 25,450 and Rs 20,400, respectively.

As per details, at least 53 head constables withdrew excessive amounts ranging between Rs 5450 to Rs 25,450, and 13 constables withdrew excessive amounts ranging between Rs 4,400 and Rs 20,400 as conveyance reimbursements per month. The total loss to the exchequer hence under this method was Rs 51.48 lakh.

The report also highlights how due to the non-capping of the upper limit on conveyance allowances to be paid on the software, at least 66 constables/head constables managed to withdraw excess amounts.

“Due to non capping of upper limit in the software, excess conveyance allowance was paid. The DDO is responsible for checking the correctness of the pay bill register and in case of failure, they are liable to make good any consequent loss,” it was specified in the report.

According to the detailed report, police personnel even ended up drawing allowances that didn’t exist, such as “oil and soap allowance” or “Secretariat allowance”. At least Rs 7.30 lakh was withdrawn under fradulent allowance heads.

“As many as 42 police personnel drew inadmissible allowances (not included in the allowances that they were entitled to) — like higher education allowance, electricity allowance, other allowance, secretariat allowance, oil and
soap allowance, additional pay, special pay other than allowance, uniform allowance, washing allowance and HRA,” the report said.

What the CAG says

The CAG in its detailed recommendations, said, “Action may be taken against erring officials who made wrong entries to benefit some officials. Also, responsibility may be fixed for lapses in disbursement of pay and allowances.”

It also specified, “DDO may ensure that necessary checks as per the financial rules are meticulously exercised before release of payments, arrears, LTC, TA, medical etc. All claims ought to be internally checked to avoid excess/double/ inadmissible payments. Thorough review of IT systems may be undertaken to develop sufficient controls and validation checks to ensure data integrity and prevention of frauds.”