Autonomous Bodies Under Education Ministry Didn't Utilise Grants of Rs 4,553 Crore, CAG Report Reveals

The CAG also pulled up the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for not accrediting eligible institutions.

The Wire Staff

The CAG also pulled up the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for not accrediting eligible institutions.

autonomous bodies under education ministry didn t utilise grants of rs 4 553 crore cag report reveals

Representative image. Photo: Pixabay/rupixen

New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said in its report that the Central autonomous bodies (CABs) under the Ministry of Education did not utilise Rs 4,553.85 crore of grants allotted to them during 2022–23, reported New Indian Express.

This figure of non-utilised grants has put the Education Ministry at the top of the list of Central ministries and departments which have not utilised funds. The CAG report on non-utilisation of funds was tabled in parliament on Wednesday (August 12).

As per the CAG report, the total grants released to CABs during 2022–23 stood at Rs 1,13,012 crore, of which the maximum of 48.43% pertained to the Ministry of Education.

Of the Rs 54,732.16 crore released in grants, the autonomous bodies reported Rs 4,553.85 crore as unutilised, said the CAG.

This figure amounts to 33.82% of the overall unutilised grant across ministries by the end of the financial year, which stands at Rs 12,464.22 crore. At present the Ministry of Education has 198 CABs under it.

The CAG also pulled up the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) for not accrediting eligible institutions.

“As of March 2022, 31.92% of higher educational Institutions (HEIs) were accredited, but 56.26% and 76.22% of universities and colleges respectively were not accredited though eligible for accreditation,” said the CAG report.

Some of the irregularities highlighted by the CAG included the Central Institute of Technology, Kokrajhar, IIT-Guwahati, and IIT-Bombay reimbursing their faculty members for the purchase of notebooks, laptops, desktops and tablets from Cumulative Professional Development Allowance from 2016 to 2023, which is not allowed according to regulations, reported New Indian Express.

The report further noted that the Central University of Kashmir, Ganderbal, was found to have irregularly reimbursed leave encashment to its hiring agencies causing a loss of Rs 76.31 lakh.

This article went live on August thirteenth, two thousand twenty six, at five minutes past four in the afternoon.

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