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CAG: Ministry callous, loopholes galore in Azad institute operation
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found numerous loopholes in the functioning of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies in Kolkata, an autonomous body of the Union Culture Ministry. These include lack of bye-laws and guidelines for selection of research fellows and projects.
According to the CAG, the premier institute which was established in 1993 with an aim to act as a centre for research and learning and focus on issues related to developments in Asia, had an inadequate monitoring and review system leading to inordinate delay in the completion and publication of the projects.
The top auditor noted that a number of research topics churned out by the institute during the audit period 2005-2011 were unrelated to its objective while just 23 out of 58 completed reports have been published so far. Also, speaking volumes of the Ministry’s callousness to the functioning of the institute no sincere efforts have been made to add to the museum’s original collection of 22 since its establishments in 2006.
The CAG found that the institute had prepared its first annual plan for the year 2010-11 in May 2010 while the
budget for the year was sent to the Ministry in September 2009. “This shows that the plan was not correlated with the budget,” it said.
In some cases, neither the institute had taken permission from the Culture Ministry for the fund diversion nor the Central Government sought reasons for it as per the report.
Against the norms enshrined in its codex, the report notes, out of 31 fellows for internal research projects, two were selected for three projects without any newspaper advertisements while in five cases, even application of the fellows made after the last date of submission were selected.
“Research projects were not being properly monitored as during the audit period, the CAG found that the institute had 58 completed projects, 34 incomplete projects and 28 other projects which were not due for completion as of July 2011,” says the CAG.
Delays ranged between nearly one to seven years while eight projects were still lying incomplete as the research fellows had left without submitting the final reports.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found numerous loopholes in the functioning of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies in Kolkata, an autonomous body of the Union Culture Ministry. These include lack of bye-laws and guidelines for selection of research fellows and projects.
According to the CAG, the premier institute which was established in 1993 with an aim to act as a centre for research and learning and focus on issues related to developments in Asia, had an inadequate monitoring and review system leading to inordinate delay in the completion and publication of the projects.
The top auditor noted that a number of research topics churned out by the institute during the audit period 2005-2011 were unrelated to its objective while just 23 out of 58 completed reports have been published so far. Also, speaking volumes of the Ministry’s callousness to the functioning of the institute no sincere efforts have been made to add to the museum’s original collection of 22 since its establishments in 2006.
The CAG found that the institute had prepared its first annual plan for the year 2010-11 in May 2010 while the
budget for the year was sent to the Ministry in September 2009. “This shows that the plan was not correlated with the budget,” it said.
In some cases, neither the institute had taken permission from the Culture Ministry for the fund diversion nor the Central Government sought reasons for it as per the report.
Against the norms enshrined in its codex, the report notes, out of 31 fellows for internal research projects, two were selected for three projects without any newspaper advertisements while in five cases, even application of the fellows made after the last date of submission were selected.
“Research projects were not being properly monitored as during the audit period, the CAG found that the institute had 58 completed projects, 34 incomplete projects and 28 other projects which were not due for completion as of July 2011,” says the CAG.
Delays ranged between nearly one to seven years while eight projects were still lying incomplete as the research fellows had left without submitting the final reports.
