CAG finds lapses in funds given to college by ex-UP CM Mulayam

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has detected irregularities in the allocation of funds to educational institutions by former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's government in 2002-03.
The auditor in a report submitted to a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said that Rs 35 crore was irregularly given to Chaudhury Charan Singh College in Etawah.
The bench, also comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and L Nageswara Rao, was told by CAG that proper procedures were not followed in releasing contingency fund to a college by UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited, a subsidiary of PWD department, and gross irregularities were found in the disbursal of funds.

The court directed the matter to be listed before another bench after four weeks.
The apex court had earlier asked the Centre to apprise it whether CAG had objected to the release of Rs 100 crore in connection with birth centenary celebration of Choudhary Charan Singh to a college run by a society having some senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders on its Board.
It had directed the SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav to file his response and asked the Centre to inform it about objections, if any, raised in the past by the CAG.

The bench is hearing an appeal filed by one Mahendra Nath Rai against dismissal of his plea in 2004 by the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court challenging grant of funds to the tune of around Rs 100 crore to the college for birth centenary celebration of the former Prime Minister in 2002-03.

The court also asked 'Siksha Prasar Samiti', the society which runs the college, to inform about its composition and income tax returns, giving details of inflow of funds, within four weeks.
It asked the society, which had Shivpal Singh Yadav and Ramgopal Yadav in its board, not to spend from its corpus except for meeting some urgent day-to-day needs.
The court had on March 2 expressed displeasure over non- filing of responses by some persons including the former Chief Minister in the case in which notices were issued in 2005.
The plea alleged that the centenary celebrations had taken the form of construction of buildings for the college being run by the society and the expenditure incurred by the state was channelised through UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Limited.