Every time Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike blames lack of funds when it comes to fixing potholes and clearing piled up garbage the question about misuse of funds arises. BBMP has been infamous for financial irregularities.
In December 2015, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Namma Bengaluru Foundation filed a PIL at the Karnataka high court asking the CAG audit of finances of BBMP.
Hearing the PIL on Tuesday, acting Chief Justice S.K. Mukherjee and accompanying judge Ravi Malimath on Tuesday directed the Assistant Solicitor General at HC to take notice of Union of India and the CAG regarding the issue. They have been given a week’s time to submit a report.
The PIL had asked the Karnataka High Court to direct the CAG to audit BBMP finances and expenditure. It had also asked the state government to investigate BBMP, its officials and the commissioner to identify the reason for the inconsistencies.
The CAG has so far done what is called a complimentary audit for a couple of decades, which is not enough. The CAG reports from 2010 to 2014 reveal financial irregularities and mismanagement of funds, said Prakash Kumar, an advocate.
“Especially the 2010 audit and the 2014 audit revealed glaring inconsistencies in the financial records of the corporation,” He said.
Rajeev Chandrashekar’s letter to chief minister Siddaramaiah in October 2015, he said “The State government gives the excuse of lack of funds for development of the City, whereas the BBMP’s financial management tells a different story. That of the large-scale misappropriation of funds, illegal transactions, rampant misuse and siphoning off funds by some corrupt officials through a maze of more than 900 banks accounts deliberately opened to manipulate the funds.”
The reason behind such a fraud is because of the failure to introduce accounting standards such as National Municipal Accounting Manual or the Karnataka Municipal Accounting and Budget Rules, Chandrashekar said.