The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) hascriticised the Army for letting a private builder take over its land at a primelocation in Mumbai by giving it a “no objection certificate" andcompromising the defence security.
The CAG has pointed out large scale discrepancies in landrecords of the Defence Estates Officers (DEO). Its performance audit report on‘Defence Estates Management’ which was tabled in parliament on November 1,
The CAG pulled up the local authorities saying that evenafter certain fraudulent activities regarding the land had come to theirnotice, Central Ordnance Depot (COD) Mumbai did not get the land demarcated inits favour from the state government authorities, which facilitated usurpationof the land from the Army.
The land measuring 5166 Sq m in the possession of COD is atKandivli Mumbai. It was in the possession of the Army since 1942. The reportsaid that the said piece of land was allotted to a private company in 2007 andwhen it started development work there, the COD objected to it and placedsentries there.
The report said, “As the COD obstructed the developmentwork, the Company lodged a complaint with the minister of state for Defence Production,whereby the Minister’s Personal Secretary wrote to the Army Chief’s Secretariatin November 2007 for appropriate action.”
The army chief then forwarded the file to the Quarter MasterGeneral’s Branch (QMG) for processing the case, who later informed theMinister's office that the "Local Military Authority had been instructedto remove all obstructions and to let the legal owner go ahead with planneddevelopment."
The CAG report observed that the land, which was inpossession of the Army since decades and was actively used for patrollingpurposes and of the value of Rs 5.94 crore, was give up without any seriouseffort.
The report said, “Army headquarters instead of investigatingand defending its case allowed the company to go ahead with development work inthe vicinity of military establishment, thus, compromising on defence security.COD also failed to pursue the matter with the state government to resolve theissue.”
Loss of indigenously designed/manufactured ammunition worthRs 408.06 crore The report also pointed out at Rs 408.06 crore worthindigenously designed and manufactured ammunition declared unserviceablewithout an internal investigation which had led to import of ammunition costingRs 278.88 crore to meet the demands of the Army.
The report observed that while the army attributed thedefects to insufficient quality control during manufacture, the OrdnanceFactory Board (OFB) attributed these to design deficiencies.
The army did not conclude any serious investigation “toascertain the reasons for defects in the ammunition and to fix responsibilityfor such failure during the last two years,” the report noted.
Unauthorised construction of hotels on Defence land Thereport also highlighted the unauthorised construction and running of 36 hotelson old grant sites/leased land at Pachmarhi and two old grant sites being usedas restaurants and shops in Barrackpore Cantonment, while no action was takenby the cantonment board or local military authorities to resume the land.
Unauthorised use of defence assets for Army WelfareEducation Society Despite repeated instructions by the defence ministry to stopmisuse of government buildings for non-governmental purposes, the armyauthorities in Pune allowed unauthorised use of defence buildings by ArmyPublic School and spent Rs 83.52 lakh for their repairs and renovation.
Further, the Military Secretary’s Branch of the IntegratedHQ of the MoD (Army) irregularly posted nine Army Officers to run professionalinstitutes of the army welfare education society (AWES), a private society.
Projection of inflated requirement of ammunition The reportobserved that the Ministry of Defence, based on projection of requirements bydirectorate general Ordnance Services, placed indent on Ordnance Factory Boardfor supply of two types of ammunition. It also granted "in principle"approval for their import, despite holding surplus quantities in stock.
Audit intervention led to cancellation of indents onOrdnance Factory Board as also stopped further action on import, leading to asaving of about Rs 168.75 crore.
Construction of sub-standard bunkers
Substandard bunkers at a cost of Rs 7.61 crore wereconstructed due to inadequate soil investigation and lack of proper supervisionby the executing engineers of the Military Engineer Services. These proved tobe unfit for safe storage of ammunition. The bunkers continued to remaindefective even after three years of their completion.
Avoidable extra expenditure due to non-acceptance of lowesttenders An additional expenditure of Rs 3.01 crore, on two works was done byBorder Roads Organisation (BRO). Itfailed to finalise tenders within the validity period of the quotes which ledto acceptance of higher rates.
