CAG: Let Khemka attend Haryana pre-audit meet
WATCHDOG IAS officer has been directed to participate in the exit conference before the Haryana state warehousing corporation audit report is finalised
NEW DELHI: Even as whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka’s name is doing the rounds for selection to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in a rare instruction, directed Haryana’s principal accountant general (PAG) to include Khemka in the exit conference before finalising the performance audit report of the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC).
According to an official close to the process, the move is seen in government circles as underlining CAG’s apprehension that Khemka may be treated unfairly during the audit of the Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC), which is part of the general audit of Haryana’s finances.
Exit conferences provide an opportunity to the auditee to discuss the audit findings and to clarify any point of likely doubt.
The directive came after Khemka met the CAG on July 2 to explain his position regarding allegations that he had changed terms of reference during the tendering process for the supply of galvume sheets for roofing purposes of the HSWC warehouses, costing around ` 9 crore.
Interestingly, on November 27, 2013, Haryana government had requested the CAG for a special standalone audit of HSWC. CAG had turned it down on February 19, 2014, saying that a standalone special audit was not possible.
Khemka, a 1991 batch Haryanacadre IAS officer has been transferred 44 times in 23 years of his career after he exposed corruption in the departments he was posted in.
In 2012, he cancelled a land deal between realty giant DLF and Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.