One mobile number linked to 5,019 applications, finds CAG audit of DBT schemes

Mumbai: An audit of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme done over nine districts found irregularities such thousands of applications providing the same mobile number for verification, submission of fake caste certificates and children of government officials claiming benefits of scholarships despite being ineligible.

In one instance, a mobile number was found to have been linked with 5,019 applications for a caste-based scholarship.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report tabled in both the houses of the state legislature revealed these irregularities in central government’s flagship DBT scheme implemented to plug the leakages in the schemes implemented by the government.

The CAG report pointed out how in five districts there were 15 instances of submission of fake caste certificates to reap the benefits of a scholarship.

After this information was revealed in the audit, the administration of Ahmednagar district recovered the scholarship thus paid wrongly.

The CAG has also rapped the government for paying scholarships of ₹93 crore between 2018-19 and 2020-21 to those students whose attendance was less than 75%, which is the norm for the eligibility. The CAG has recommended data verification through a biometric attendance system.

The CAG has also flayed the government for the lack of a proper monitoring method to ensure that the institutions were passing on the scholarship benefits to the eligible applicants.

It stated that in nine test-checked districts, the auditors found 2,379 applications from the OBC and VJNT categories had no income certificate attached despite which ₹5.45 crore were distributed to them in three years from 2018-19 to 2020-21.

Similarly, 1,173 applications that had no caste certificates were given ₹81 lakh during this period. The report has pointed out that of the 2,241 approved applications for the scholarships, the documents submitted by 922 applicants were not viewable on the system.

In a cross-verification case by the CAG into the post matriculation scholarship (PMS) offered to the other backward castes (OBC) and the Vimukta Jati Nomadic Tribe (VJNT), the auditor found many cases in which children of government employees or pensioners were availing the benefits.

In 353 and 367 cases from two categories respectively, the children of government employees or pensioners had applied for the benefits using forged income certificates.

One of the eligibility criteria for the scholarship is that the annual income should be less than or equal to ₹1 lakh. The auditor has recommended that the government should not rely solely upon the income certificates but also cross verify the claim using the registered mobile numbers.

The report has revealed that 697 mobile numbers were registered with more than 20 applications each for scholarships meant for the OBC and the VJNT. One mobile number was found to have been linked with 5,019 applications while another few were found linked to over a thousand applications.

“The fact that numerous applications were linked with the same mobile number used for verification indicates the absence of validation checks. This also indicates that the objective of the DBT system — to eliminate intermediaries — has been defeated,” the report stated.

The CAG in its report has stated that the DBT is a major reform initiative of the central government for better and timely delivery of the benefits to the people for wage payments, fuel subsidies, food grain subsidies and scholarships.

“Ten departments of the state government disburse scholarships with the amount of ₹7,228 crore in two years in 2018-19 and 2019-20 and therefore the audit of the DBT in scholarship was undertaken,” stated the report.