PANAJI
In a shocking revelation, at least one government department and several State-owned Corporations including IPSCDL, the special purpose vehicle to implement Panaji's 'smart city' mission, have been skipping the mandatory audit of their accounts for several years.
An internal note of the audit section of the Directorate of Accounts has red-flagged this shocking state of affairs in which it states that the River Navigation Department (RND) has failed to submit audited statements of accounts for 17 successive years from 2006-07 till date.
Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) the SPV for the 'smart city mission' has not had its accounts audited since 2018, while Infotech Corporation of Goa Ltd has no audits of its accounts done since 2015-16.
In all, eight State-owned corporations, two autonomous organizations and one government department (RND) have been named in the list for failure to audit their accounts.
The SC, ST Development Corporation has not been audited for 11 years from 2012-13 till date.
The Goa Forest Development Corporation has not been audited for two years since 2022-23. Also CAMPA under the forest department has not audited its accounts for six years since 2017-18.
As for the Goa State Horticulture Development Corporation, the note of a senior auditor states that the auditing of its accounts are pending for two years since 2022-23.
Another prominent State-owned corporation which has been red-flagged for pending audits of its statement of accounts is the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC). Since last year, the Corporation which manages industrial estates across Goa, has not complied with the audit of its accounts for one year.
Among autonomous bodies, Khadi and Village Industries Board, has been flagged for no audit of its accounts. The Board which comes under the tutelage of the Department of Industries, Trade and Commerce, is an 'autonomous body' which is responsible for administering a number of Central-government sponsored schemes and direct financial benefits to promote traditional rural economic activity.
