27 February,2014 08:08 AM IST | | Ravikiran Deshmukh
Maharashtra CM asks for case to be filed in 15 days, if the ex-IOA chief fails to give proof of how he spent state funds in the Commonwealth Youth Games
More trouble is in store for MP Suresh Kalmadi. He is likely to face a criminal case against the irregularities in spending public funds for organising the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) in Pune in October 2008.
Suresh Kalmadi and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has given a conditional go-ahead for filing a criminal case against Suresh Kalmadi
According to highly-placed sources, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has given a conditional go-ahead for filing a criminal case against Kalmadi.
"If the former chief of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) fails to provide substantive proof of how the state government's funds worth Rs 32.95 crore were used, the case should be filed against him," the CM is believed to have said.
Of this amount, Rs 25.12 crore was diverted to the organising committee (OC) by the state director for sports and youth affairs. No bills or receipts of the utilisation of this amount were submitted. Incidentally, these funds were in addition to the Rs 425.50 crore already provided for the CYG.
Sources said that while approving a criminal case, the chief minister said that if Kalmadi or the OC fail to submit proofs of utilisation of the funds along with receipts, the case should be filed within 15 days.
Chavan's nod is part of the government's action-taken report (ATR) prepared as a reply to the public accounts committee (PAC), which itself had prepared a report on the issue and submitted it to the legislature in April last year.
Coming down heavily on the use of the amount of Rs 32.95 crore, made available through contingency funds in three instalments, the PAC had observed that the OC had failed to submit proofs of expenditure despite several reminders. The committee's findings were based on a scathing report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
The panel had then recommended a criminal case against the Pune MP, who has been suspended by the Congress. Responding to the committee's directions to submit an ATR within three months, the state government has communicated its stand to the committee.
