According to the CAG report on 'Local Bodies' for the period ending March 2024, Assam's Social Audit Unit has faced severe operational and governance challenges. The registration of SAU under the Societies Act remained invalid for almost five years, since December 2019, due to infrequent governing body meetings that hindered budget approvals and annual account certifications. The CAG highlighted that gross shortfall in holding of governing body meetings implies the deficiency in monitoring at the government level.
The CAG report revealed significant manpower shortages affecting the unit's operations. The SAU operates with a significant manpower shortage of 43 per cent overall vacancy, particularly among key field personnel, impacting its ability to meet social audit targets and conduct timely audits. The manpower policy of SAU is yet to be firmed up, even after being proposed in August 2017 and reviewed by the Finance Department. The CAG recommended that the manpower policy should be finalised and initiatives should be taken for recruitment of resource persons in requisite numbers.
The CAG identified critical issues with the follow-up mechanism for social audit reports. The impact of the social audit is diluted by a deficient follow-up mechanism, like insufficient public hearings at the block and district level, poor recovery of amounts objected to in social audit reports. The report noted that some village panchayats have not provided records to social audit teams, indicating a lack of sensitisation on social audit among panchayati raj institutions. The CAG recommended strengthening of follow-up actions on social audit reports through public hearings at all levels.
The report highlighted significant gaps in monitoring and accountability mechanisms. The State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC) at the state level had not monitored the action taken by the state government on social audit reports and action-taken reports. Additionally, SAU did not submit quarterly reports in the format specified by the Ministry of Rural Development to the principal accountant general/accountant general. The CAG noted that there is a critical lack of follow-up on audit observations, evidenced by a less than four per cent recovery rate of misappropriated funds, weak state-level monitoring and ineffective public awareness campaigns.
The CAG made several specific recommendations to address the identified issues. The CAG recommended that governing body meetings should be held at stipulated intervals to ensure approval of the budget and annual accounts of SAU, and to facilitate effective monitoring of the activities. The report also suggested that the Code of Ethics should be developed and deployed by the SAU for social audit facilitators, as it is required under the Auditing Standards of Social Audit. SAU was first registered in December 2016 for the functioning of the MGNREGS Audit of Scheme Rules 2011, and has an independent director and is governed by a governing body headed by the chief secretary.
