PIL seeks CBI probe into Rs 2 l-cr ‘scam’ in Bengal

NEW DELHI: A petition filed in the Calcutta High Court last month has alleged a “massive financial scam” by the West Bengal government. The petition claims that the state government has spent Rs 229,099 crore of public money without proper documentation, leading to allegations of misappropriation.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has found the lack of Utilisation Certificates (UCs), which verify government funds were spent properly, to be at risk of misappropriation. The petition also accuses state officials of supporting the alleged scam.
“A report submitted by the CAG of India for the year ended 31 March, 2021 with respect to the finances of the State of West Bengal points out various glaring incongruities and irregularities which point towards the misappropriation and perpetration of a financial scam of massive proportions by which the public exchequer has been defrauded,” the petition filed before the Calcutta High Court has stated.
The petition has been filed by three individuals, Jagannath Chattopadhyay, journalist and general secretary of West Bengal state BJP unit, advocate Suman Shankar Chatterjee and retired Army personnel Ritwick Paul on 20 January 2023, after they got to know from the published CAG report that the West Bengal government was not reporting and documenting the expenditure of the funds given by the Central government to the Bengal government.
“From the report of the CAG of India, it can be seen that UCs (Utilisation Certificates) to the tune of Rs 2,29,099 crore are yet to be received from various departments of the Government of West Bengal with the biggest defaulters being the Departments of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, School Education, Panchayat and Rural Development with each such Department failing to submit UCs to the extent of Rs 30,693 crore, Rs 36,850 crore, Rs 81,839 crore respectively. Thus,
effectively Rs 2,29,099 crore of the public exchequer’s money have been spent without there being even an iota of any documentation such as UCS which are mandatorily required,” the petitioners said in their prayer before the Calcutta High Court.
Utilisation Certificates are required to be submitted by the state governments to the Central government to ascertain whether the funds or grant in aid given by the Central government to the state government was utilised for the purpose it was given to the state.
The CAG’s State (West Bengal) Finance Audit report for 2021, which The Sunday Guardian has seen, says, “In the absence of UCs, it could not be ascertained whether the recipients had utilised the grants for the purposes for which these were given. This assumes greater importance as pendency in non-submission of UCs is fraught with the risk of misappropriation.”
The petitioners allege that a scam of massive proportions causing loss of hundreds of crores to the public exchequer is being committed with impunity because of the tacit as well as active support of the officers belonging to the state administration.
Jagannath Chattopadhyay, one of the petitioners and general secretary of the West Bengal unit of the BJP, told The Sunday Guardian that he, along with three others, has filed the petition not as a member of the BJP, but as a journalist, as according to him, in his two-decade-long journalistic career, he has never seen such a huge amount of public money being unaccounted for.
“Since this government (TMC government) has come to power in 2011, CAG has identified that the state government has not filed UCs for Rs 2 lakh 30,000 crore, this is a huge amount of money. CAG has identified this as a misappropriation of fund, because they could not even audit this amount. Despite CAG asking repeatedly for the UCs, the Bengal government has not been able to provide them. Apart from this, there is no record of Rs 5,000 crore in the personal deposit account of the state government. In Bengal, every block in the state has Rs 235 crore of money for which there is no accounting. There are bureaucrats and IAS officers who are involved in this. We have informed the court that this is a clear cut scam and now after the CAG report is out, nobody can say this is not.”
Chattopadhyay further added, “This is the first ever biggest scam in the history of West Bengal. This is also the first instance where we are being able to show through documentary evidence that such a large amount of money has been officially looted by the state government. This is public money, money given to the state by the Central government.”
The CAG report also pointed out that Detailed Contingent (DC) bills amounting to the tune of Rs 3,400 crore were pending in various departments of the West Bengal government till March 2021, reflecting on the state’s “accounting indiscipline” by the government functionaries and controlling authorities, leading to risk of fraud, temporary misappropriation and embezzlement of funds.
The CAG in its report also further stated, “WBTR (West Bengal Treasury Form) requires that advances drawn through AC bills are to be adjusted through Detailed Contingent bills (DC bills) within one month from the date of completion of the purpose for which the advance was drawn. In no case, this should exceed 60 days from the date of drawls of the AC bill.”
The petitioners have prayed before the Calcutta High Court to initiate a CBI investigation into this alleged massive “scam” since the state police would not do a fair investigation against its own government. The Calcutta High Court in the last week of January this year, while admitting the petition, had asked the Finance Secretary of West Bengal and the CAG to be parties to the case. The court has also heard the petitioners and is currently scheduled to hear arguments of the state government. The next date for hearing has been scheduled for Monday.