The 2011 Auditor General’s Report – Ministry of Finance (Part II)

In this path (of disinterested action) there is no loss of effort, nor is there fear of contrary result, even a little practice of this discipline saves one from a terrible fear of birth and death.  
 Bhagavata Gita

Two weeks ago, we examined the 2011 Auditor General’s report on current expenditure of the Ministry of Finance. We found that expenditure on contracted employees accounted for almost 75 per cent of employment costs. The solution to the problem arising out of the disparity in wages and salaries paid, and to ensure transparency in the recruitment process, is a unified and professionalized Public Service with standardized pay and grades, fully administered by the duly recognized constitutional agency, the Public Service Commission. We also touched on the Lotto funds and the operations of NICIL, and we noted that the Auditor General stayed clear of any adverse comments relating to these two matters.

In my column of 24 September 2012, I did an analysis of the operations of NICIL from the point of view of the Companies Act 1991 and the Public Corporations Act of 1988. I had stated that NICIL is not a public corporation as there was no evidence that an order was issued under the latter Act deeming it as such. This was after strenuous efforts to obtain information from various sources,