Karnali Province Government Flouts Laws, Pays Rs 1.28 Billion Without Salary Report

Surkhet. A large amount of money has been paid in violation of policies, rules, and laws in Karnali Province. Money was paid last fiscal year (2081/082) without passing the salary report.

Karnali Province Civil Service Act, 2080, Section 44(2) clearly states that salary cannot be paid without passing the salary report of civil employees, but in gross violation of this, Rs 1.28 billion 13 million 2 thousand rupees were paid to employees, as mentioned in the eighth report of the Office of the Auditor General.

'Despite such a large amount being paid, the salary report of the employees was not found to be passed,' the report stated, 'The salary report of the employees must be passed.'

Mismanagement of Fund Reallocation Remains

The Karnali Provincial Government has been stating in its policies and programs in recent years that it will discourage fund reallocation only in Ashad, but in practice, it has been found that it does not follow its own policies.

Karnali Province Economic Procedure and Financial Accountability Act, 2081, Section 20 states that ministries can reallocate funds within the limit of 10 percent as per the appropriation act. Last year, the government reallocated Rs 1.53 billion 49 million 11 thousand, of which nearly Rs 100 million was reallocated in the month of Ashad alone.

The government has grossly violated its own policy of not reallocating funds in Ashad.

The Auditor General has warned against controlling the practice of keeping lump-sum budgets in miscellaneous expenses and reallocating them to other programs at the end of the year.

Government Flouts Laws

The Karnali government has openly violated the Public Procurement Act, 2063 and the Public Procurement Regulations, 2064.

Going beyond policy provisions, provincial government offices have been awarding contracts worth billions without even creating a procurement plan.

Furthermore, the Karnali government does not even recommend blacklisting businesses for reasons such as non-identification of procurement needs and non-competitiveness of procurement packages, lack of competition in procurement processes, procurement actions without preparing the construction site, failure to appear for procurement agreements, failure to complete work as per agreements, and leaving construction work incomplete.

The report states that the government is also engaged in activities such as purchasing consultancy services without confirming the need for the project and available manpower, excessive advance payments, carrying out work without approving variation orders, and extending deadlines without collecting predetermined compensation for delays caused by businesses.

Not only this, but it was found that the government did not even prepare a financial report when it spent Rs 19.99 billion 74 million last year.

Rs 100 Million Spent on Training Alone

The provincial government spent Rs 104.1 million on training alone last year.

That too, training of the same nature with different standards. Employees have been trained by various offices under the provincial government, including the Forest Research and Training Center, Agriculture and Livestock Business Promotion Training Center, and Karnali Province Training Institute.

However, all of them have spent money on the same nature of training but based on different standards, as mentioned in the Auditor General's report.

The Chief Minister's Office itself appears to have failed in enforcing procedures. Similarly, although more than Rs 4.1 million was spent on monitoring that year, no report was prepared.