The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has ordered a review of all Leave Travel Concession (LTC) claims by employees from 2010-2011 onwards, more than three years after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) first flagged fraudulent LTC claims.
In an office memorandum issued on Wednesday, the CPWD asked its zonal offices to review the claims to see if there had been any fraudulent practices. The CAG report cited in the memo found that employees of the CPWD and the Delhi Development Authority, both of which come under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, were paid higher reimbursements for air travel on forged tickets and misrepresentation of facts. Since the fraudulent claims, which resulted in employ- ees getting ₹8.19 lakh more than they were entitled to from 2014 to 2017, were detected during a “test check” in 2018, the possibility of similar cases could not be ruled out, it added.
The report said the matter was brought up with the DDA and the CPWD in June 2018 and August 2018, respectively, and the CAG recommended a review of all claims. However, the two organisations failed to submit details of any review. The report said the CAG then raised the matter with the Ministry in November 2020.
“The above facts indicate that despite the suggestion of audit to review all LTC claims paid from 2012-12 by the DDA and 2010-22 by the CPWD, neither auditee has carried out any review exercise. Thus, the exact extent of similar fraudulent LTC claims and total financial implications remains undetermined even after lapse of two years,” the report said.
The report went on to add that in the absence of any action by the DDA and the CPWD to review the claims, there was no assurance that “such fraudulent practices are not persisting”.
It added that the Ministry’s reply was awaited as of September 2021, after the matter was referred to it in November 2020.
