New Delhi: Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena orders special audit into misuse’ of funds by DCPCR

New Delhi : Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has approved a WCD Department’s proposal to institute an inquiry and ordered a special audit into alleged misuse of government funds by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Raj Niwas officials said on Thursday.

Saxena also directed that no further request for allocation of funds by the DCPCR will be entertained before the completion of inquiry and special audit. The Women and Child Development (WCD) Department noticed that the demand of funds from the DCPCR has increased exponentially in recent years, a Raj Niwas official said. “While processing the allocation of budget for DCPCR for the Revised Estimates and Budget Estimates for the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively, it was noticed by the WCD Department that the demand from the DCPCR has increased exponentially in the recent years from a mere Rs 2 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 15.20 crore in the current financial year.

“It was also found that the DCPCR was incurring expenditures and engaging itself in activities beyond its mandate and scope of work particularly in the case of Government of India schemes such as Integrated Child Development Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandna Yojana and POSHAN Abhiyan,” the official said.

There was no immediate reaction from the Delhi government. The WCD Department found that the salary components in DCPCR had increased from a mere Rs 17 lakh in 2017-18 to Rs 2 crore in the current financial year, as several consultants were hired and the salary of chairperson and members was increased without following laid down procedures, which envisage that any increase needs approval of the LG, the official added.