No auditing of GPs, ULBs, varsities for want of staff

BENGALURU: The Karnataka State Audit and Accounts Department (KSAAD) is hit by a severe staff crunch. Of the 4,564 sanctioned posts, almost 50 per cent posts have been lying vacant, adversely affecting the auditing of gram panchayats, urban local bodies and universities across the state. Authorities are forced to undertake random auditing and not the complete auditing of these agencies.

According to data available with TNIE, of the 4,564 sanctioned posts, only 2,400 posts are filled, which accounts to 48 per cent vacancy in the department. Of these, Group C and Group D constitute more vacancies. The Group C cadre includes account auditor, account superintendent and account assistant posts who play an important role in auditing.

Speaking to TNIE, a senior official said each organisation is audited by man days. The GP is audited for four to six days, while urban local bodies take 400 to 600 days. The number of days depend on the number of transactions. Higher the transactions, more the number of man days. “Since we have less number of staff, we either take more days to complete the auditing or most of the time we go for random auditing which might not be accurate,” the official added.

This apart, the existing staff is overburdened as their workload is almost doubled. “In some cases, we depute officials for auditing to different agencies or places if we find they are lagging behind,” said another official. Recently, the state government approved to recruit 242 first division assistants, 67 second division assistants, 54 auditors and 43 assistant controllers. The Finance Department also gave its nod. However, this process is likely to take some time.