CAG pulls of railways over receipt of fake currency notes

Pulling up the Railways for receiving fake currency notes of the face value of Rs 92.33 lakh during the last five years, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India today reprimanded the national transporter for not adhering to the prescribed rules for dealing with such cases.
"The total debits of Rs 92.33 lakh were raised as on July 2014 by banks/cash offices on the selected stations for remitting fake Indian currency notes (FICNs). Though major portion (78.60 per cent) of the debits was made good by the concerned booking staff, the procedure adopted by the railway authorities for dealing with FICNs was not as per the procedures laid down in Cash and Pay Manual of the Railways," the CAG's latest report tabled in parliament, said.

CAG noted that FICNs, detected by banks/cash offices, were being returned to the concerned booking staff, which was in violation of provisions laid down for dealing in such cases.
CAG which examined the records for the period from 2010-11 to 2014-15 upto July 2014 cautioned that this led to possibility of re-circulation of fake currency in the open market.
In case of three zones - Central Railway, Eastern Railway and Western Railway - concerned station authorities intimated to the CAG that the FICNs were destroyed by the stations staff, in spite of handing over Chief Commercial Superintendent of the division for impounding, it said.

Highlighting an instance, the CAG said that FICNs of the face value of Rs 18.64 lakh detected by IDBI bank were returned to the station authorities and that too without any impounding advice.
Out of 196 selected booking locations over 14 zonal railways, the currency authenticator machines were installed only in 58 locations, CAG said, adding: "Despite installation of the machines, FICNs of the face value of Rs 9.26 lakh were received at these locations.