Team Herald
PANJIM: In what could spell more trouble for the River Navigation Department (RND), the non-maintenance of its cash book has come under the scanner of the auditing sleuths, details of which are in the process of being submitted to the government.
Regarding the transaction for the year 2014-19, as pointed out in the audit inquiry, the department did not comply with the financial rules relating to maintenance of cash book, handling cash and withdrawal of money. The absence of supervision and internal control also led to the systematic failure of financial accountability to manage public money.
The inquiry, which has also been submitted to the RND, further reveals that the cash book was not prepared for 2018-19 and 2019-20 till date, whereas considerable revenue of Rs 76.08 lakh was collected towards toll fee in the last financial year.
With no review of daily transactions in the cash book, the inquiry reveals that the lapse continues till date, with no responsibility fixed or reprimand issued to the cashier for not writing in the cash book on a daily basis.
During the last audit inquiry in 2012, the sleuths had stumbled upon similar discrepancies during verification of the cash book, bill register and related records. It had noted that the drawing officer had initialed the entries in cash book without any dates and that the cash book was being used without the required certification, surprise verification of physical cash, etc.
The issues have come back to haunt the RND during the current inquiry in the department again as the cash book for the year 2014-15 to 2017-18 also had several deficiencies.
