CAG: Haryana jails in a state of mess

The Audit report observed that in spite of the Jail Department informing the police,no action was taken to find out their whereabouts.

Also,there is a 26 per cent shortage of security staff in the jails of the state,the report adds. “No system has been adopted to post employees in various jails on the basis of capacity of prisoners or actual number of prisoners,” the report states.

A review of internal controls in selected areas of the Jail Department in Haryana showed non-compliance of budget and expenditure controls,rush of expenditure at the end of the financial year,non-reconciliation of withdrawal of funds and treasuries and non-compliance of provisions of Jail Manual. CAG also found that the internal audit was non-functional despite staff being in position.

In the internal control of Jail Department for 2007-08,maintenance of cash books and the reconciliation with the treasury schedule were found to be deficient which was fraught with the risk of misappropriation of funds remaining undetected,states the report.

The CAG report also found an “overall congestion” in prisons,despite construction of additional jail buildings.

No action was taken to transfer the prisoners from the overcrowded jails to other jails to keep the number of prisoners balanced in all the jails,the report observes.

Absence of vigilance cells in Jail Department in Haryana has also been pointed out.

The report suggests that the department should maintain the liability register so that liabilities could be factored in while framing budget estimates.

The department should prescribe a suitable ratio of warders in place to prisoners and the government should consider adoption of provisions of the Model Jail Manual on a selective basis,it further says.