CORTALIM
The revenue department has reportedly withheld its stamp of approval to the South Goa Comunidade Administration budget of 2016-17 until completion of the inquiry and fixation of responsibility on errant officials.
It may be recalled that the government had directed the South Goa Collector to conduct a thorough inquiry into allegations of forgery and irregularities in ordinary budgets of Office of Administrator of Comunidades, South, following a representation by Comunidade Attorney Celestino Noronha.
The letter of August 1, 2016, from Under Secretary Revenue Ashutosh Apte to the South Goa Collector had sought a thorough inquiry into the allegations and directed submission of detailed report to fix responsibility on the official concerned, so as forward the report to vigilance as well as ACB.
Noronha, who is the elected attorney of Comunidades of Aquem, Margao and Verna, highlighted the alleged criminal fraud and forgery committed by the Administrator of Comunidades South Zone by tampering with the ordinary budget for 2014-15 after its approval by the government.
It was alleged that income of seven Comunidades amounting to Rs 59.37 lakh and corresponding derrama of Rs 17.54 lakh was malafidely inserted by hand in the approved budget without changing the totals.
“Then Administrator of Comunidades thereafter knowingly and dishonestly used as genuine the said forged document with intent to commit fraud and caused the derrama to be recovered from the seven Comunidades,” Celestino had alleged in his letter.
Derrama demand notices were issued to the seven Comunidades on the basis of the forged insertions, he added.
Alleging that an aggregate amount of Rs 4.43 crore, being grants received from the government and unspent amounts from previous years had been concealed by the South Goa Comunidade Administration office in its budgets, Noronha claimed that had this amount been added to
the income, then Comunidades in South Goa would not have to pay derrama for the next 8-10 years.
