Rules and regulations can8217;t clip ministers8217; wings

AHMEDABAD, Oct 5: When ministers and IAS officers decide to make a foreign trip, nothing can come in their way. Certainly, not things as ...

AHMEDABAD, Oct 5: When ministers and IAS officers decide to make a foreign trip, nothing can come in their way. Certainly, not things as trivial as rules, government instructions or RBI regulations.

In 1997, says a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, many in the State did not bother to obtain the necessary permissions and clearances, others drew 56,241 extra as daily allowance, yet others did not submit bills of more than Rs 58 lakh which they had taken as advance, some did not even attend the event for which they had gone abroad.

Among them are politicians like former Chief Minister Dilip Parikh, former ministers Ranjitsinh Zala, Narsinh Padiyar, Ranjitbhai Patel, Umesh Rajyaguru and Jashabhai Barad and many others. Also among them are the who8217;s who of the IAS top brass of the State. The CAG report describes the officials8217; conduct as 8220;serious irregularity and impropriety which would need investigation by the government for fixation of responsibility8221;. But sources said the government had done nothing, not even for the recovery of the money for which no accounts have been given. In fact, the government didn8217;t care to reply when the CAG referred the matter to it.

Those who drew 56,241 by way of excess daily allowance included former ministers Ranjitsinh Zala, Ranjitbhai Patel, Umesh Rajyaguru, Narsinh Padiyar and Jashabhai Barad and IAS officers Ashok Chawla, Gauri Kumar, V R S Cowlagi, V R Parmar, K N Shelat, A D Desai, S Jagdeeshan and Varesh Sinha. They drew a daily allowance at a rate higher than their entitlement, says the report.

Those who drew Rs 58.32 lakh as advance, but did not submit bills for more than a year included former ministers Dilip Parikh, Ranjeetsinh Zala, Umesh Rajyaguru, Raghavji Patel and Jasabhai Barad and IAS officers Ashok Chawla, Ravi Saxena, Bhagyesh Jha, Gauri Kumar, V R S Cowlagi, A D Desai, K Kailashnathan, S Y Bhatt, V R Parmar, K N Shelat, K V Bhanujan, C K Koshy, V V R Subbarao, and A W P David.

Here are some other CAG findings:

In 10 of the 21 cases, contrary to government guidelines, no proposal for the foreign tour was submitted to the Ministry of Finance.

Four ministers went on foreign tours without the approval of the Prime Minister. They included Dilip Parikh and Ranjitsinh Zala, both twice, Umesh Rajyaguru and Jashabhai Barad. Parikh and Zala just obtained the approval of the Chief Minister.

In four cases, there was nothing to show that the political clearance of the Ministry of External Affairs was obtained before the foreign tour. Similarly, in six cases, there was nothing to show that the approval of Ministry of Home Affairs had been obtained.

In 10 cases, foreign exchange was obtained through boards and corporations without the sanction of the Ministry of Finance, and in violation of government instructions and RBI8217;s exchange control manual.

Contrary to rules, in seven cases no tour report was submitted. In four cases, undated tour reports were submitted. In one case, K N Shelat, A D Desai and S Jagdeeshan visited Oman, Qatar and Dubai to attract investment from NRIs, but the tour report said the travel was for import of liquefied natural gas.

The high-fliers

Minister Raghavji Patel and Deputy Secretary S Y Bhatt went to Canada for a folk festival. They landed there on June 27 and left on July 3, when the event hadn8217;t even begun. Although it was a sponsored visit, the government footed the bill, including air fare to Canada and the US, and daily allowance for 23 days.

Anil Kane, then a director with Essar Investment Limited, water resources expert C C Patel, and Chief Engineer U K Survaiya visited the Netherlands to study and solve problems before

submission of the 8220;final pre-feasibility report8221; of the Kalpasar project by a Dutch consultant. They landed there on November 29, after the report had been submitted on November 16, and stayed on until December 7.

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The Principal Secretary to the CM was sanctioned leave from August 26 to September 12 to visit the US. While he was there, the government felt that he could study 8220;non-conventional energy and energy conservation measures in USA and the system of redressal of public grievances and administrative reforms8221;. On government request, the Indian embassy paid him 1,107.45 for his expenses. The government also reimbursed his air fare of Rs 50,283 from Ahmedabad to New York and back.