New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) Lt Governor V K Saxena has flagged "gross violation" of accounting procedures and inordinate delay in auditing of a few higher education institutions under the Delhi government, sources in the LG Office said on Tuesday.

The LG has expressed "serious concern over undue delay" in conduct of audit of the Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research University (DPSRU) for five years while disposing off a file in his capacity as the chancellor, they said.

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He has directed its vice chancellor to submit an explanation for the delay along with details of officers responsible for this lapse within 15 days, a source said.

There was no immediate reaction from the education department or the Delhi government.

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The Kejriwal government and the Lt Governor have been at loggerheads over multiple issues in the past few weeks.

Lt Governor Saxena has "once again flagged gross violation of accounting procedures, financial mismanagement, and inordinate delay in auditing in the public education sector" here, the sources said.

A proposal to get the DPSRU accounts pertaining to 2015-16 audited by the CAG was cleared by the then LG in May 2019.

"The CAG had also asked that the entrustment of audit of accounts of four other universities, viz. -- Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIIT-Delhi), Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW), Delhi Technological University (DTU) and Netaji Subhash University of Technology (NSUT) be also conveyed under Section 19(3) of the CAG Act," sources said.

"It took the government of Delhi more than one year to comply with the advice of the CAG and finally a proposal to this effect under Section 19(3) was made in August 2022, wherein the file for the same yet again came to the LG's Secretariat from the CM without his signature, with an observation by the Joint Secretary to CM, to the effect that 'Hon'ble CM has seen and approved'.

"Obviously the CM didn't want to take the responsibility for the lapses in accounting and violation of rules of CAG," the sources claimed.

Saxena, who had recently sought a report on "falling enrolments and rising absenteeism" in Delhi government schools, has expressed "grave concern over unjustifiable and undue delays of more than five years in audit of accounts of universities under the Delhi government by the CAG", they said.

The LG, also the chancellor of the state universities, has directed the Training & Technical Education directorate to take immediate action to ensure entrustment of audit of accounts of all state universities in accordance with the statutes in place to the CAG".

He has also directed that "in future entrustment of audit accounts of all universities is done immediately without any delay", the sources said.

The LG has also come across "serious and continuous procedural lapses" on part of the state universities in Delhi, and has taken a very serious view of it. Accordingly, the LG Secretariat has also written to all vice chancellors to ensure that meetings of the Court of University are held at least twice in an year, sources added.

(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)