Haryana gave ₹41-Cr cash awards to over 4k ineligible athletes, says CAG report

In September 2019, the state government notified a cash award scheme, applicable from April 2017, for the grant of cash awards to junior and sub-junior categories, inclusive of youth and cadet category tournaments for international and national competitions which were not a part of earlier sports policies of the state government, the audit said

More than 4,000 ineligible junior and sub-junior category sportspersons were rewarded with cash prizes amounting to ₹41.30 crore by the Haryana government, during the 2004-05 to 2015-16 period, an audit conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has found.

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The CAG report pertaining to matters arising from compliance audit of government departments, autonomous bodies and public sector undertakings of the Haryana government which was tabled in the state legislature on March 22 said that cash awards for junior and sub-junior categories which were sanctioned by the government for disbursement on the basis of recommendations of the sports directorate were not admissible as per the Haryana Sports and Physical Fitness Policies prior to 2016-17.

“The department paid an amount of ₹41.30 crore to ineligible individuals during that period. The state government should fix responsibility of concerned officers for the violation of sports policy, which resulted in the irregular payment of cash awards to ineligible sportspersons,’’ the CAG said in its recommendation.

While in 2004 Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) government was at the helm with chief minister OP Chautala holding the sports portfolio, the state in the 2005-2009 period was ruled by Congress with Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry as Minister of State (MoS) for sports.

During the second successive Congress rule in 2009, chief minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda held the Sports portfolio with Gopal Kanda as MoS, Sports attached with the CM. However, there was a reshuffle later and the sports portfolio was allocated to MoS Sukhbeer Kataria. In 2015 when the BJP formed the government in the state Anil Vij held the sports portfolio.

The report said that the Haryana government and sports department in August 1993 laid down parameters for the grant of cash awards to outstanding sportspersons for their excellent performance in the international and national competitions in the recognised sports disciplines. As per the rules, cash awards are given to outstanding sportspersons in nine identified competitions conducted by different recognised international and national sports bodies. These are the Olympics, World Championship, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, Asian Championship, National School Games, All India Women Sports, All India Civil Service Tournaments and All India Interstate Board.

Haryana’s Sports Policy was revised with the introduction of nine new identified competitions in 2001 and 2009. “The 2015 policy introduced three new competitions under the youth category along with a revision in cash award incentives. Junior and sub-junior category competitions were not included in all these policies,’’ the report said.

In September 2019, the state government notified a cash award scheme, applicable from April 2017, for the grant of cash awards to junior and sub-junior categories, inclusive of youth and cadet category tournaments for international and national competitions which were not a part of earlier sports policies of the state government, the audit said.

The procedure as followed by the department provided that the applications were invited from sportspersons relating to the concerned district. After scrutiny of these applications by the concerned district sports officers and then by a directorate-level committee, recommendations were sent to the state government for grant of cash awards to eligible sportspersons.

Scrutiny of records of the sports director and eight district-level offices from April 2021 to December 2021 period revealed that the department paid cash awards amounting to ₹41.30 crore to 4,256 individuals during 2004-05 to 2015-16 under junior and sub-junior categories, which also included youth and cadet categories for international and national competitions conducted by recognised sports bodies, the report said.

These categories (junior and sub-junior) were not eligible for any cash award scheme before the notification issued in September 2019, making them eligible from 2016-17 onwards, it said.

‘Record destroyed by termites, flooding, roof leakage’

The CAG scrutinised 480 cases out of 4,256 cases (2004-05 to 2015-16) under junior and sub-junior categories for examining the records of the claims of the ineligible sportspersons. Audit observed that out of eight selected district sports officers (DSOs), Kurukshetra and Jhajjar did not produce any records related to 269 ineligible individuals to whom the department paid the cash award during 2004-05 to 2015-16 on the plea of flooding of the office building and fire incident in February 2016. Further, it was noticed that of the balance 211 cases, only 90 application forms were produced for the audit in the remaining six selected districts on the ground that records were destroyed due to flooding water, termites and roof leakage.

Uncertified application forms found

Out of 90 application forms produced for audit, 22 cases were not certified by two DSOs, and in 15 cases, relating to three DSOs, application forms were not certified by sports federations. It was further observed that in nine cases, the concerned school principal did not attest photo of the claimant, and in one case, the signature of the claimant was missing. Hence, the authenticity of claims could not be assessed in the audit.

“DSOs recommended and forwarded the names of sportspersons without verifying the admissibility of each individual claimant against the participation in the identified competition as notified in sports and fitness policy. Further, the committee constituted at directorate level certified the eligibility and entitlement of ineligible sportsperson for distribution of the cash awards,’’ the audit found.

ACS, sports admitted to payment of cash awards

Additional chief secretary, sports, in April 2022 admitted that the department paid cash awards to junior and sub-junior categories tournaments for corresponding tournaments mentioned in different sports policies for 2004-05 to 2015-16, although junior and sub-junior tournaments were not mentioned in these policies.

“However, this situation arose as the policy was silent that cash award was not to be given for junior and sub-junior tournaments. This fact was also brought to the notice of the chief minister, who on June 15, 2018, ordered to frame policy of giving cash awards to junior, sub-juniors, and youth category athletes,’’ the ACS told the audit.