Audit Dept report has UT police in a spot

Amit Sharma 

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 13

Raising questions over the manner in which the UT police bought computer hardware items during 2017-18, the Audit Department has pointed out that the police made piecemeal purchases of Rs 21.53 lakh to avoid the tender process and sanction from the higher authorities.

As per the audit report, records of the DGP office revealed that recurring purchases worth Rs 21.53 lakh were made by splitting the quantities to avoid the necessity of obtaining sanction from the higher authorities and to avoid the tender process.

The report mentions that frequent purchases in small quantities clearly indicated that despite regular consumption of printer toner, cartridges and anti-virus software, the purchases were split.

Passing an observation, the report mentions that had the department floated a tender or entered into a rate contract for the items required repeatedly, it could have proved economical due to competitive rates offered by bidders. 

The Police Department stated that the purchases were made on the basis of requisitions from different units. However, the same could have been made after obtaining a consolidated requisition from all units that could have resulted in an economical buy.

RK Garg, founder president of the Second Innings Association, said the Audit Department gave many suggestions. “Since these suggestions are not taken seriously, the purpose of the audit is defeated,” he added.

Financial rules violated

The audit report also pointed out that the total expenditure on the purchase of petrol, diesel and lubricants for the vehicles of the department during the year was Rs 7.06 crore. However, according to a statement submitted by the accounts wing, an expenditure of Rs 5.89 crore was incurred, clearly showing that Rs 1.18 crore incurred in excess of the budget allocation had been adjusted against some other budgetary head, which was a violation of the provisions of the General Financial Rules.

Rs 12.61 crore yet to be recovered from banks

The audit report observed that the Police Department provided security to various banks in the city in the form of guards or escorts without getting full payment in advance, which was in contravention of the provisions of the Punjab Police Rules. 

As per Rule 2.11 of the Punjab Police Rules, security can be provided at the discretion of the superintendent, subject to directions of the magistrate. The Rules state that additional police may not be provided sans full payment. A scrutiny of the records revealed that an amount of Rs 12.61 crore is still outstanding.

Short recovery of Rs 2.87 crore from RBI

According to the report, the RBI hires an escort from the UT police time to time for remittance of cash safely to its destinations and pays for the same as per the bills. It was observed that due to non-compliance of the Punjab Police Rules, the department short-recovered Rs 2.87 crore from the RBI.

2 stenographers against one post

The audit report mentions that scrutiny of the records pertaining to the office of the DGP revealed that against one sanctioned post of senior scale stenographer, the department made two appointments.