The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has come down heavily on the regularisation process of 895 unauthorised colonies, adopted by the Delhi Government in September 2012. The CAG said that regularisation of 312 colonies on private land was irregular while 201 colonies were regularised without recovery of cost of land and boundaries were fixed without verification of khasras (land) by the Revenue Department.
“Prohibited areas, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) hindrances, overlapping of boundaries were not considered during boundary fixation. There were lots of discrepancies found on the land status of 312 colonies on private land and 583 on Government land. The boundary was fixed without verification of land record by Revenue Department,” the CAG said in its report tabled in the Parliament. The report was tabled in the Parliament due to President’s Rule in Delhi. The CAG report also said that Delhi Government failed to provide basic amenities in 895 unauthorised colonies despite spending a fund of around `3,029 crore.
According to CAG, certain changes were made by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) in the guidelines which were not in accordance with revisions approved by the Union Cabinet on the basis 2007 guidelines approved by the Cabinet. As a result of change of procedure of regularisation, 312 unauthorised colonies on the private lands stood regularised as per the orders of Delhi Government in September 2012 without undergoing the process of approval of lay out plan and approval of land use change. It has also pointed out that 48 colonies that did not exist in 2002 were regularised in September 2012.
On the cut off date for eligibility of the regularisation of colonies, the CAG said that as per guidelines, the cut-off date was fixed as per aerial survey of 2002 whereas the amendment in the regularisation rules made it as aerial survey of 2007 which was not in accordance with the Cabinet decision.
“The Government has issued provisional regularisation certificates to 1,218 unauthorised colonies which were of no consequences in the scheme of regularisation. The issuance of PRCs was not in the scheme of regularisation approved by the Cabinet in February 2007 and therefore, an irregular and unwarranted exercise. As a result, 1,218 PRCs issued were of no consequences in the scheme of regularisation,” it said.
State genco’s ‘power play’
In its audit of the Indraprastha Power Generation Company limited (IPGl) the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has blamed the State-owned generation company for giving ‘undue financial benefit’ to discoms because of which the company suffered interest loss of Rs6.42 crore. The CAG lashed out at IPGCl for acting in a way that led to giving undue benefit to discoms. “Indraprastha Power Generation Company limited by delaying recovery of advance income tax paid, blocked their funds and suffered interest loss of Rs6.42 crore leading to undue financial benefit to discoms,” the report added.
Water costs gush higher
Accusing the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) of filling its coffers and denying the ‘due’ of various organisations, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has stated that the water utility has been charging extra on water bills for some offices/institutes. According to the CAG report released on Friday, the DJB failed to give 15 per cent rebate on water bills to seven Government hospitals despite getting Water Harvesting System (WHS) or Waste Water Recycling Plant installed at their buildings. “In spite of incurring an expenditure of Rs2.61 crore on installation of Water Harvesting System/Water Treatment Plant, Delhi Government hospitals failed to avail the rebate of 15 per cent on their water bills amounting to Rs7.28 crore,” the CAG said.