Karnataka Finance Deprtment to directly monitor accounts of universities, autonomous bodies

Bengaluru: Considering the recent instances of misuse of government grants, the Finance department has decided to directly monitor the accounts of public universities, boards and corporations and other autonomous bodies.

This is mainly to observe the discrepancies or behind-the-scenes “manipulations” while utilizing the funds released by the government. The government directed the departments, urban local bodies, Panchayat Raj institutions, corporations, boards, societies, universities, and other autonomous institutions to share the details of  bank accounts they use for operations. For this, a centralised module has been developed in Khajane-2.

As per the institutions, within the next one month, the drawing officers of the respective departments must mandatorily record the details of the bank accounts they hold in the Account Verification Module of Khajane-2 and update.

Why is this important? 

It can be recalled that, a few years ago, thousands of crores belonging to the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department were transferred from the main account to another account and indirectly benefited certain individuals. 

Later, the government’s money was transferred back to the main account and the case was closed. Similar instances were reported from other departments and corporations too. 

In another similar case, before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, hundreds of crores from the Valmiki Corporation were transferred to another account opened by the corporation and from there to various private accounts. This diversion of funds came to light during the investigation.

“Following such repeated instances and as it is difficult to monitor each and every account we have developed a centralised module,” said an official from the Finance department. 

How does it work?

After entering bank and branch details, customer number, account number, account type, and the year the account was opened, additional information must be entered in the given module:  account head, agency name, account purpose, whether the account receives government grants, whether the account undergoes annual audit and the order number through which the account was opened.

“This will help understand the account’s history and importance, and whether it is subject to audit. Moreover, when multiple accounts exist, their past transactions will also come to the attention of the Finance department as soon as they are recorded,” explained an official of the department. 

Since 2017, if any department, corporation, or board wants to open a new bank account, it must obtain approval from the competent authority and the Finance Department. The account’s purpose, type, authorised signatories, and operational guidelines must be in place. This order has completed seven years. The module will also reveal how many departments and corporations are complying with it.