Kerala: The financial audit report revealed that a loss of Rs 5,28,725 was incurred in the purchase of furniture in the state central library. The report recommended that the financial loss be considered the personal responsibility of librarian Shobana and recovered from her. The report also recommended that departmental action be taken against the librarian.
Rs 93.85 lakh has been allocated for the purchase of furniture and interior work in the new heritage building of the central library. The funds for these works were handed over to KET (Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education). Administrative approval for the project was granted by an order dated July 6, 2017. The librarian violated the conditions that e-tendering should be adopted after the specifications were finalised and store purchase rules should be followed. A workshop was held for the project and the specifications of the furniture to be included on various floors of the library were decided. A letter was sent to the administration department on February 13, 2018, requesting permission to assign these works to an architectural firm and to implement the processes through KET. The government granted permission for the same on the 23rd.
It was assessed that the project could be executed effectively if the technical experts under KET themselves undertook the entire design and installation of furniture for the heritage model building. Hence, the librarian wrote a letter on March 5, 2018, requesting permission to allocate Rs 93.85 lakh for the project. That too was approved on March 15. Usually the furniture required for the central library was purchased directly from CIDCO. However, on the request of the librarian, the work of furniture for the heritage model building was assigned to KET. CIDCO paid Rs 88,56,275 to KET for installing furniture in the library. KET was just a middleman in this deal. The financial audit found that they charged Rs 5,28,725 as commission for this. The report said that this was an irregular action.
Cidco was assigned the direct task of purchasing furniture and interior work for the library. The librarian was unable to give a clear answer to the question why the KET method was implemented. There is no evidence that KET has any secrets. This caused huge losses to the library.
Even before the government directed KET to start the e-tendering process, the librarian had asked KET to start the e-tendering process immediately. The report also said that the files show that the library showed unnecessary haste in this matter. Therefore, the report recommended that the government compensate the librarian for the loss of Rs 5,28,725.
