94% of UP's protected monuments operated without legal title, CAG finds

It also included a subject-specific audit on the conservation of monuments by the Archaeological Survey of India in Uttar Pradesh.

Who it concerns: Union Government Ministries (including Culture, External Affairs, Home Affairs, Social Justice, and Tribal Affairs) and Central Public Sector Enterprises.

What the auditor found

• ASI in Uttar Pradesh operated 94% of Centrally Protected Monuments without legal title, with 31 monuments untraceable and 96 cases of encroachment reported.
• Ministry of External Affairs incurred excess expenditure of ₹ 27.43 crore on license fees for unutilised space at Akbar Bhawan.
• Central Armed Police Forces failed to deduct Professional Tax amounting to ₹ 26.40 crore from employee salaries in six states.
• Central Industrial Security Force blocked funds of ₹ 6.53 crore for over nine years due to non-possession of land.
• Sashastra Seema Bal made excess payments of ₹ 3.18 crore in Special Compensatory Allowance.
• Regional Passport Offices in Mumbai, Pune, and Goa made irregular payments of ₹ 1.47 crore in electricity duty and tax.
• Fishery Survey of India had a 37% shortfall in planned voyages between 2018-19 and 2022-23.
• Scholarship schemes for Scheduled Castes and Tribes showed instances of payments to non-enrolled students and multiple payments to beneficiaries.

Also in the document

• CAG found that 94% of protected monuments in the audited ASI circles in Uttar Pradesh were operating without legal title.
• CAG reported a non-deduction of Professional Tax totaling ₹ 26.40 crore by Central Armed Police Forces.
• CAG noted that the Ministry of External Affairs spent ₹ 27.43 crore on license fees for space that was not utilized.