TIA NEWS / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court today expressed concern shock over the reports that money, meant for the welfare of construction workers across the nation was going somewhere else.
“The Money which was supposed to go to the poorest people of the country was going somewhere else”, apex court observed.
Hearing a PIL filed by an NGO, the apex court observed that there was no record as to how 5,000 crore rupees out of a total of around 26,000 crore rupees was spent. The court asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to file an audit report in the matter within two weeks.
A bench comprising Justices M B Lokur and Deepak Gupta told Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh to ensure that the money is not spent in tea or lunch. Mr Singh told the bench that money was lying with the state governments and it is not that the money has disappeared.
The apex court, however, observed that what has been told to it was shocking and the Centre must find out a solution to deal with the situation. The bench has fixed the matter for hearing on 5th of next month.
“Lot of money is involved in this. It is supposed to go to the poorest people of the country. It is not going to them. It is going somewhere else. It is a very important matter. The money should reach to the poorest people,” the bench said.
Singh told the bench that money was lying with the state governments and “it is not that the money has disappeared”.
The apex court, however, observed that what has been told to it was shocking and the Centre must find out a solution to deal with the situation.
Lawyer Colin Gonsalves, who was appearing for the petitioner, claimed that huge amount of money was transferred and it was being used for “all kind of sundry purposes”.
“Roughly, how much will be the amount,” the bench asked a CAG official, who was present in the court.
Responding to the court’s query, the official said the total amount may be around Rs 28,000 crore.