Audit detects major irregularites in use of Road Safety Fund

Thiruvananthapuram: Local audit has detected major irregularities in the use of funds by Kerala Road Safety Authority (KRSA).

The findings of the audit forwarded by Office of the Principal Accountant General (Economic and Revenue Sector Audit) to the Road Safety Commissioner for replies noted that large sums had been diverted for non-safety related expenditure. Utilisation certificates had not been furnished in several cases for funds allocated. Monitoring of expenditure was weak.

The audit also reports that the government has not sanctioned substantial portions of funds that should have been transferred to the Road Safety Fund as per cent provisions of the KRSA Act, 2007. It was also noticed that the Authority had not formulated a master plan for road safety of Kerala as envisaged in the Act. Funds are sanctioned by the Authority to various departments for safety related schemes, but no technical committee, envisaged in the Act, was constituted to give recommendations on their proposals.

Scrutiny of funds allocations showed that in five cases, the Authority had sanctioned Rs. 9.62 crore; and of that, Rs. 5.62 crore were released for purposes not related to road safety in violation of the Act. These included retarring and laying of tiles, fixing of direction boards and purchase of vehicles. Funds released for purchase of interceptor vehicles by Police Department was used for purchasing 14 Toyota Innova cars and the same were distributed to four Range IGs/DIGs without equipping them with interceptors. More than Rs. 18000 was spent in 2013-14 for paying the mobile phone charges of gunman of the Chief Secretary.

As much as Rs. 47.62 crore allocated to various departments for road safety related schemes were remaining unspent.  Rs. 1.86 crore allotted towards modification of interceptor vehicles remained unspent, but it was stated as used in utilisation certificate. Utilisation certificates from the implementing departments and agencies were not obtained in 30 cases involving Rs. 45.95 crore. In several cases, expenditures did not have the approval of the Authority.

It was noticed that NATPAC had submitted 25 reports with recommendations for improvement of road safety. However no action for their implementation was taken. This resulted in unfruitful expenditure of Rs. 4.75 crore. Audit could not verify actual use of the funds by NATPAC as it was pooled with its own on-going research projects.

As per the Act, the government should contribute to the Road Safety Fund an amount equal to 50 per cent of the compounding fee collected in the previous year, and one time cess levied and collected under the Act every year together with fines, interest and fees recovered.  However, it was observed that against an amount of Rs. 446.36 crore due to be transferred to the Fund for the period between 2009-10 and 2014-15, only Rs. 173.12 crore had been transferred. The remaining Rs. 297.65 crore collected had not been transferred for the intended purpose by the government.

The Authority also violated the Act by not submitting annual reports to the government in respect of its administrative and financial activities.  No report had been submitted so far though it is required to submit the previous financial year’s report by June 30 every year. Improper maintenance of cash book and irregular procedure for sanctioning leave were also noticed.