Taking a critical notice of non-establishment of mannequin colleges in Jammu and Kashmir prior to now 10 years regardless of availability of Rs 44.13 crore, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has requested the state authorities to refund the unspent funds and repair duty.
In its J-Okay report on Social, General, Economic and Revenue for the yr ending March 31, 2019 tabled in Parliament just lately, the CAG stated the failure of the training division to take well timed motion for utilisation of funds acquired from the Centre disadvantaged high quality training to the supposed beneficiaries.
“The matter was referred to the department/government in May 2020; their replies were awaited (September 2020). The State Government may ensure that unspent amount along with interest accrued thereon may be refunded in accordance with conditions laid down in the sanction order of Ministry of Human Resources Development and responsibility fixed for non establishment of model schools,” the CAG stated.
It stated the division of college training and literacy (DSEL), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), launched a scheme in November 2008 with the target of getting at the very least one good high quality secondary faculty (Model School) in each educationally backward block (EBB).
“The scheme was to be implemented from 2009-10 onwards. As the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) was a special category State, the funding pattern through Grant-in-aid for implementation of the scheme was 90:10 for GoI and Government of Jammu and Kashmir (GoJ&K) respectively,” the CAG stated.
It stated the GoJ&Okay submitted proposals (November 2009) to the Grant-in-aid Committee (GIAC) of DSEL, MHRD, for organising of 24 (17 new colleges and conversion of seven present colleges) for EBBs.
During its third assembly (November 2009) the GIAC noticed that the projected unit value of 6.18 crore was larger than the scheme norm of Rs 3.02 crore per Model School and subsequently, the State Government was required to both revise the estimate or to satisfy the additional monetary burden.
“In the same meeting, the representative from the State of J-K informed the GIAC that the estimates will be revised so as to bring it within scheme norms. The GIAC thereby recommended 19 new model schools (November 2009) to be set up in the State,” the report stated.
Thereafter, it stated the revision of value was acknowledged to be submitted to Project Approval Board (PAB) in 2010-11 and subsequently, amendments have been made to present provisions by Department of School Education and Literacy (DSEL), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), which allowed (April 2014) Jammu and Kashmir a possibility to revise the fee based mostly on State Schedule of Rates (SSoR) in respect of the sanctioned 19 mannequin colleges for the EBBs as a one-time exception.
A proposal based mostly on the SSoR 2012 was acknowledged to be submitted (August 2014) by the GoJ&Okay to the DSEL as per the data offered by the State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, J-Okay Noor Audit Report-Social, General, Economic and Revenue Sectors for the yr ended 31 March 2019, the CAG stated.
It stated no related particulars of the revised proposals have been offered on grounds that the workplace of the Directorate of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) remained submerged in floods within the Valley in September 2014 for a interval of greater than 25 days and a lot of the information in arduous copy have been destroyed.
The Centre, in February 2015 delinked the scheme from GoI assist. The grant-in-aid of Rs 25.82 crore (90 per cent) of first installment was launched (February 2010) and State Government launched Rs 2.87 crore (June 2010) to State Project Director (SPD) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
“The entire amount of Rs 29.23 crore was transferred in December 2010 and kept at the disposal of State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha, J&K Noor Society. Further, the State Government released an additional State share of Rs 2.87 crore (January 2011),” it stated.
The CAG stated the scrutiny of information (January 2019) of State Project Director, Samagra Shiksha revealed that the grants-in-aid of Rs 25.82 crore and State share of Rs 5.74 crore have been parked within the saving checking account of J&Okay Noor Society the State Implementing Society for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan.
Even after lapse of 10 years, the Government has not taken ample initiative (July 2019) for implementation of the scheme in Jammu and Kashmir, it stated, including the failure of the division to take well timed motion regardless of rest of norms for institution of mannequin colleges not solely resulted in non-utilisation of Rs 44.13 crore but additionally disadvantaged supposed beneficiaries from high quality training.
“Even the State Share of Rs 5.74 crore, plus interest included in the Rs 44.13 crore was blocked,” it stated.
When this was identified by the audit in January, 2019, the Chief Accounts Officer, Samagra Shiksha, Jammu and Kashmir State acknowledged (July 2019/June 2020) that the quantity initially authorised for institution of mannequin faculty was insufficient to take the development work. However, the case concerning revision of value submitted (2010-11) to Project Approval Board (PAB) was undecided (June 2020), it stated.
“The reply is not tenable as the department has not availed the benefit to either revise the unit cost estimate of each school or to meet the financial burden despite relaxation of norms by DSEL. Besides, after delinking of the scheme from the GoI support in 2015, the department was to arrange the additional funds from its own resources for which no steps were taken and Rs 44.13 crore continued to be held in the bank account,” it stated.
