India News | Chennithala Seeks to Quash Audit Dept Order to Stop Audit of LSGI Accounts
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday moved the Kerala High Court, seeking to quash the state audit department's order to stop audit of accounts of Local Self Government Institutions for the 2019- 20 financial year.
Kochi, Nov 11 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Wednesday moved the Kerala High Court, seeking to quash the state audit department's order to stop audit of accounts of Local Self Government Institutions for the 2019- 20 financial year.
In his plea, Chennithala, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, alleged that the order was in contravention of statutory mandates.
He submitted that audit of accounts of public funds is intended to safeguard itself from fraud, extravagance and more importantly, to bring credibility to the functioning of the audited institutions.
Chennithala said that audit is an indispensable tool for sound and effective functioning of LSGIs and to ascertain that the benefits of public funds being used reach the lowest strata of society and every individual.
"In order to prevent misutilisation and non-utilisation of funds of the LSGIs, and also against waste, improper or illegal use, embezzlement of public funds, defalcation or loss in money and also against any non-recovery of money due to LSGIs, annual auditing is an imperative necessity and failure to do so would cause great loss to LSGIs."
"If the audit of accounts of LSGIs is postponed or abandoned, public interest would be vitiated," he said.
Chennithala contended that the state audit department has exceeded its authority and power.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)