The Tripura High Court has disposed of a PIL, which alleged misuse and defalcation of public funds during implementation of various health schemes by state officials and others.
The basic facts and controversy brought before the High Court by the Petitioner (Nishan Tripura) is that from newspaper reports and the report of internal audit conducted by the Senior Audit Officer of the State Directorate of Audit for the period from 01.04.2006 to 31.03.2015 and from various other documents supplied to the petitioner under the Right to Information Act, 2005, petitioner came to know that various irregularities were committed and huge amount of fund was misused and defalcated by the officers involved in the implementation of ASHA training and various other health schemes across the State. Seeking intervention of Court, petitioner has filed the public interest petition and sought for the following directions:
(i)To call for the relevant records from the custody of the State respondents.
(ii) To issue directions to the State respondents to initiate departmental proceedings against all Government officials who were found involved in the scam and recover the defalcated amount of money from the delinquent officials in terms of the audit report submitted by the State Audit Directorate.
(iii) To cancel re-employment given to some of the delinquent officials.
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By filing a counter affidavit sworn by the Under Secretary to the Government of Tripura in the Health and Family Welfare Department, the State respondents have contended that some discrepancies are reported by the Audit Directorate in their report which is under the scrutiny of the State Government. In the process of scrutiny, reports have been called for from various Primary Health Centre (PHC), Community Health Centre (CHC) and other officials involved in the implementation of various health schemes including Janani Suraksha Yojana and ASHA training programme.
With regard to re-employment of retired medical officers and other Government officials, it has been contended by the State respondents in their counter affidavit that in view of the shortage of medical officers in various hospitals and health centres across the State, the State Government has re-employed some of the retired medical officers who were found physically fit to continue beyond retirement.
Before taking up other issues for consideration, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice S.G. Chattopadhyay found it appropriate to examine the merits of the objections raised by the State counsel with regard to the locus standi of the petitioner in filing the writ petition as a public interest litigation.
The Bench observed that in the present case, the State counsel has not been able to attribute any mala fide to the petitioner. Even, there is no material to suggest that the petitioner is acting in furtherance of any personal gain or private profit or for any political motive. Moreover, the petitioner having relied on an official document has contended that misuse and defalcation of public money has been detected in the audit report furnished by the Audit Directorate of the State Government. The State respondents in their counter affidavit have also admitted that some discrepancies with regard to utilization of funds have been highlighted in the audit report.
In these circumstances, where some allegations of misuse and defalcation of public money during implementation of health schemes have been brought to the notice of the High Court, it would not be appropriate to reject the petition at the threshold on the ground of petitioner’s having no locus standi , said the Court.
At the same time the Court went on to observe that except the audit report, petitioner has not been able to produce any other cogent materials in support of the statements made in the petition. The audit report is stated to be under the scrutiny of the State Government for corrective measures. The internal audit report, a copy of which has been placed before us reveals that mainly following irregularities were noticed by the audit team during the internal audit conducted by them:
(i) Non maintenance of proper accounts of expenditure made under various schemes.
(ii) Non maintenance and non production of vouchers before the audit team.
(iii) Non maintenance of cash books and cash analysis.
(iv) Irregular payment.
(v) Execution of various works without administrative approval and expenditure sanction by the competent authority.
(vi) Non certification of the works by the supervising officers against which bills were submitted and paid.
(vii) Non observance of codal formalities and financial rules and regulations.
The audit report is submitted by an authority created by the State Government. As submitted by the State counsel, the State Government is considering the report with due importance and required corrective measures will be taken soon by the State Government.
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In this view of the matter, while disposing the PIL the Court issued the following directions:
“(i) The State Government at the appropriate level shall complete scrutiny of the audit report and take appropriate actions against those who will be found responsible for the breaches within a period of 4 (four) months from today.
(ii) The State Government shall take appropriate preventive measures to prevent recurrence of such events”.