Secretaries Brief Public Accounts Committee on Audit Discrepancies

Kathmandu. Secretaries from various ministries have provided information on the progress of audit discrepancy settlement and reduction in the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives. In Friday's meeting, officials from the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Forests and Environment, and Ministry of Law briefed on the audit discrepancy status of their respective ministries.

Secretary of Defense Kedarnath Sharma claimed that the ministry is working systematically to reduce audit discrepancies and has shown significant improvement in recent years. According to him, the audit discrepancy, which was approximately 1.67 billion rupees in the 62nd report of the Auditor General, has decreased to about 203.6 million rupees in the 63rd report. He attributed this progress to on-site coordination with the Auditor General's team, joint discussions with bodies like military garrisons, and efforts to reduce discrepancies at the initial stage.

However, Secretary Sharma clarified that there are some discrepancies between the Auditor General's report on audit issues and the ministry's internal records. "We are working systematically to reduce audit discrepancies, and there are some inconsistencies between the Auditor General's report and our internal records," he said, "The audit discrepancy, which was around 10 billion rupees in the past, has been gradually reduced. A high-level audit discrepancy settlement task force has been formed under the chairmanship of the authorized Lieutenant General to further reduce the current discrepancies."

He also stated that audit support committees at the division and brigade levels are active, and the audit discrepancy related to the Fast Track project is around 57 percent. He mentioned that coordination with the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure is necessary as the construction-related work falls under its purview. Secretary Sharma also pointed out that the recovery of 'Late Completion Damage' (LD) imposed due to the contractor's failure to complete the work on time has been stayed by the court, causing problems.

"Specifically, the audit discrepancy related to the Fast Track project is significantly high, reaching about 57 percent. In the case of recovering the late completion damage imposed due to the contractor not completing the work on time, the recovery process is facing difficulties because the court has issued a stay order," he said, "This has affected both cash flow and project implementation. Although there are challenges in the audit discrepancy settlement process due to technical and legal complexities, efforts for overall improvement are ongoing."

Similarly, Secretary of the Ministry of Forests and Environment, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Mishra, stated that ownership-related problems have arisen in settling audit discrepancies due to the insufficient availability of records and documents from offices transferred after federalism.

According to him, out of the 560.48 million rupees in audit discrepancies in the forest sector of the ministry, 94.217 million rupees have been settled, showing about 16 percent progress. In other bodies under the ministry, out of 1.174528 billion rupees in audit discrepancies, only 34.774 million rupees (2.96 percent) have been settled. Secretary Mishra informed that out of a total of 1.73508 billion rupees in audit discrepancies, only 129.044 million rupees have been settled so far, with about 7 percent progress.

"A large volume of audit discrepancies related to offices transferred to the provinces after federalism has not yet been settled. Due to the insufficient availability of documents from those offices, ownership and record-keeping problems have arisen, making the settlement process more complex," he said, "The ministry is working with an action plan to settle the remaining audit discrepancies and aims to achieve significant progress by the end of Asar."

Meanwhile, Joint Secretary Binod Kumar Bhattarai from the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs informed that the audit discrepancies in the ministry are at a minimal level. According to him, the ministry had 'zero audit discrepancies' in previous financial years. He stated that upon re-examining the records, only a very small amount of discrepancy has been found.

"The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has had zero audit discrepancies in previous financial years. With a low budget, the ministry has not seen significant audit discrepancies," he said, "However, upon re-examining the records, only an amount of 206.80 rupees that needs to be recovered has been found, which was missed in the old records. We will settle this soon." The discussion on ministry-wise audit discrepancies in the Public Accounts Committee will continue for a few more days.