JOIN USThe Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) seems to have hit upon an ingenious way to flout government rules while spending taxpayers’ money in sending delegations abroad.
ICCR officials have been splitting the expenses required for sending cultural delegations abroad into multiple heads in order to ensure that they do not need to take the approval of the council’s president — veteran Congress MP Karan Singh — for the trips.
While all expenses above Rs 15 lakh have to be approved by the council president, splitting the spending for each trip into multiple heads ensures that the expenses remain within the financial purview of the director general of the council.
A performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) revealed that the ICCR flouted the rules to spend as much as Rs 8.15 crore for 34 of the total 41 cultural delegations sent abroad between 2009-10 and 2011-12.
The ICCR, an autonomous body under the Ministry of External Affairs, was set up in 1950 to help formulate and implement policies pertaining to external cultural relations of India.
According to the CAG report, before eminent folk singer Ila Arun’s 25-member group visited Canada in October 2011, the estimate for an expenditure of Rs 12.50 lakh for “designing, making and hiring” was submitted to the ICCR director general on August 24 that year. But on the same day, another estimate of Rs 12.50 lakh for expenditure on “concept, choreography and rehearsals” for the same tour was also submitted.
Several other estimates for the same trip were also submitted to the director general in September and October.
Though altogether Rs 78.12 lakh was spent on the tour, splitting the expenses ensured that no estimate crossed Rs 15 lakh and the approval of the ICCR president was not required.
Similarly, according to the CAG's findings, although a total of Rs 23.21 lakh was spent for a visit by a 38-member group led by eminent theatre personality Ratan Thiyam to China for Festival of India from April 4 to 17 in 2010, the estimates were split into two components—one of Rs 8.48 lakh for honoraria, insurance and daily allowances and another for Rs 14.93 lakh for air fares—in order to keep them below Rs 15 lakh. Both estimates were submitted to the director-general on the same day – March 31, 2010. In response to the CAG’s queries, the ICCR in September 2012 had stated that the proposals for expenses on airfares and honoraria and some other heads for cultural delegations were put up for approval “as per past practices”.
It has also claimed that the ICCR president had given his nod to the tours of all delegations while approving the budget estimates. It, however, did not furnish the documents to support its claim, despite being asked to do so by the CAG in October 2012.
“The reply of the council may be viewed in the light of the fact that the practice it followed amounted to splitting of expenditure to avoid obtaining approval of the higher authority,” observed the CAG, recommending that the ICCR follow the limits defined in delegation of financial power for granting approvals of tours by cultural delegations.