Rs 264 cr ‘missing’ from files

The search for the staggering amount has been renewed by Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma. His predecessors including Anil Diggikar,Aseem Gupta and Dilip Band too had launched similar “search operations” during their tenures,but little headway was made.

A week back,Sharma issued directives to 114 civic department heads to reply to objections raised in the civic audit report. He had also asked the officers to furnish documents and bills sought in the audit report.

The deadline is over and now all eyes are on Sharma as to what action he takes against officers who did not comply with the directive.

“I will have to check with the civic auditor whether any compliance has taken place. If officers have not responded,I will take action against them,” Sharma told this paper on Sunday.

When contacted,civic chief auditor Sudhir Rajderkar said there was a heavy rush of officers through the week to his department. “From the mountain of documents,files and bills that we received,it looks like several officers and departments have complied with the commissioner’s directives,” Rajdekar said. He said his department needed time to sift through all the papers to find the extent to which the directive was carried out by the officers.

Rajdekar said the missing amount had come to light from two audits,a statutory audit by his team and a special audit by the state government on the directives of the Bombay High Court. “In the last six-seven years,under successive commissioners,there has been some compliance. Officers have submitted papers,bills,vouchers to support the amount spent. But the amount,after some deletions,continues to rise with audits every year,” Rajderkar said,adding that the audit till 2004-2005 has been completed so far. “From 1982 to 2005,the total audit objections stand at over 32,000 entailing Rs 264 crore,” he said. Of this,Rajdekar said,Rs 34 crore is recoverable meaning officers and departments will have to pay the amount under any circumstances. “This amount can neither be waived nor any paper or submission will do,” he said.

The PCMC audit controversy erupted in 1999-2000 after a citizen,Maruti Bhakar,moved the Bombay HC complaining that no civic audit had taken place for years. The HC passed severe strictures against the civic officials and even called for dissolving the civic body. Following court directives,the government had announced a special audit of civic accounts. “If the officers do not respond to the audit objections,I will move the Supreme Court to get them arrested,” Bhapkar warned.