IMC dept?s ignorance comes as a shocker

THIS MAY come as a bit of surprise to the Accountant General. The Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) accounts department has no idea about the status of nearly 1300 odd audit objections filed during the last 50 years.

THIS MAY come as a bit of surprise to the Accountant General. The Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) accounts department has no idea about the status of nearly 1300 odd audit objections filed during the last 50 years.

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The startling fact came to light after IMC Accounts Committee chairman Rajendra Jaiswal sought information from various departments and 12 zone offices on the total number of objections registered by auditors between 1956, when the Corporation came into existence, and 2006.

Jaiswal further directed departmental heads and zonal officers to submit details of the action taken in each case. Imagine his surprise upon finding that most departments had no idea about either the pendency of audit objections or action taken on these, if any.

“I sent a total of 20 letters, eight to various IMC departments and 12 to zone offices on November 27, seeking information. Only seven have replied with the number of objections and they, too, have failed to submit details,” the Accounts Committee chairman told Hindustan Times.

Jaiswal has filed a written complaint about the matter to Mayor Uma Shashi Sharma, Municipal Commissioner Vinod Sharma and IMC Speaker Shankar Lalwani. The latter is learnt to have directed the remaining departments and zone offices to gather information and submit it to the committee within eight days.

Officials of the local audit fund are deployed at semi-government agencies like municipal corporations and universities. The auditors scrutinise the accounts and submit quarterly reports to the Accountant General’s office in Gwalior.