Raj: CAG highlights several irregularities in report

The CAG has highlighted several irregularities, including non-disposal of applications in accordance with their date of receipt, in its audit report for the year ending March 31, 2016.
The report was presented to the state legislature today.
"Mining leases numbering 1,610 were granted out of 71,688 applications processed during the 2012-15 period. 13,977 applications were declared as ineligible and 1,749 of them were pending for more than five years as against 12 months prescribed in the rules," the report said.
It said 315 applications were not finalised in accordance with their date of receipt, on-first-come-first-serve basis, and out of these, in 114 cases the priority was broken at the draftsman-level.

The report mentioned that applications were granted without fulfilling the requirement of furnishing mandatory documents.
In 32 cases, the signature on application forms and affidavit did not match with the documents furnished.
"The department had not issued any guideline or specified the time period for each stage of processing of applications. The department accepted documents without verifying their factual accuracy for grant of mining leases.
"They processed the applications without proper scrutiny. The department also allowed the participation of persons without any legal authority other than the applicants in the process for grant of leases which was irregular," the report said.