Bhubaneswar: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found irregularities in allotment of government quarters in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
As of March 2015, there were 11,636 quarters in Bhubaneswar (11,496) and Cuttack (140) under the control of General Administration department. Out of this, 11,546 quarters were under occupation while 90 were under repair and vacated by residents, the CAG said in its latest report on general and social sector for the year-ended March 2015.
“As many as 321 quarters were under unauthorised occupation by March 2015 for up to 35 years. The unauthorised occupants include retired employees (244), families of deceased employees (31) and transferred employees (46). Although the department had cancelled allotment for these quarters, they were not vacated,” the CAG said.
On verification of 69 houses, the auditor found delay in initiation of eviction of unauthorised occupants. Delay in cancelling allotments, issuing eviction order and disposal of cases by the EO, led to prolonged unauthorised occupation of quarters, the auditor said, adding, “This also led to non-recovery of arrears from unauthorised occupants and deprival of government accommodation to eligible government employees.”
As per provisions, a retired government employee can reside in allotted quarters for a maximum period of four months on payment of licence fee in advance.
However, of 188 test-checked cases furnished by two home and agriculture departments, 170 employees did not vacate their accommodation even after one to three years of retirement, the report said.
Though the government had withheld the gratuity of the employees, the rent officer did not cancel allotment order and referred the cases to EO for filing eviction cases.
Similarly, the GA department had received complaints of unauthorised construction in 30 quarters in May 2012 and confirmed it by January 2013. But, the department only cancelled allotments of five quarters and imposed penalty of `12.76 lakh between April 2013 and February 2015.
Moreover, the government vacated two quarters till July 2015 while the remaining 28 quarters were still in occupation of the allottees.
The auditor stated that licence fee of `5.09 crore remained unrealised from 321 former employees till March 2015. Out of the amount, `3.05 crore was pending against 244 retired employees, `0.65 crore against 31 deceased employees and `1.39 against transferred employees.
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