Addl Rs 3.36 cr spent on ministers' salaries, perks

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has found that the state had incurred an additional expenditure of Rs 3.36 crore towards increasing the salaries and allowances of ministers in the 2014-15 financial year.

In its report on Appropriation of Accounts 2015-16, tabled in the Assembly, the national auditor said the legislature had given its approval to spend only Rs 5.56 crore towards hiking the salaries and allowances of ministers. The government had not given any specific reason for the additional expenditure, the report said.

Similarly, an additional expenditure of Rs 56.56 lakh was incurred towards increasing the salaries of the chairman and members of the Karnataka Public Service Commission, the report said.

The CAG audit revealed that the government was not able to spend Rs 67.9 lakh earmarked for giving compensation to family members of farmers who committed suicide due to crop loss. The government had secured approval of the legislature to spend
Rs 25 crore to give compensation to the farmers’ families, in a supplementary budget. Of this, Rs 67.9 lakh remained unspent, the report said.