Mumbai:
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Maharashtra Legislature has indicted former Indian Olympic Association president (IOA) Suresh Kalmadi for irregularities in organising the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008 at Pune and asked the state government to file a criminal case against him.
The PAC report, which was tabled in the Legislative Assembly today, also asked the government to submit an action taken report (ATR) to the committee within three months.
PAC Chairman Girish Bapat (BJP) said Mr Kalmadi as the president of the organising committee and Lalit Bhanot, member secretary, demanded additional amount of Rs 32.95 crore towards emergency expenditure. This was in addition to the Rs 425.50 crore fund.
The state government released Rs 32.95 crore in three instalments from the contingency fund. Out of this amount, the Directorate of Sports and Youth Services (DSYS) diverted Rs 25.12 crore towards the organising committee. Out of the remaining Rs 7.83 crore, DSYS spent Rs 4.36 crore. Instead of depositing Rs 3.47 crore in the state treasury, it kept the amount with itself illegally.
Mr Bapat said the details of expenditure of the amount of Rs 25.12 crore, including bills and receipts, were not provided.
"We are of the view that since the organising committee failed to provide details of how it spent the amount, there have been irregularities," he added.
Mr Bapat said a fund of Rs 425.25 crore was already provided for organising the Commonwealth Youth Games. Hence, emergency fund of Rs 32.95 crore was not required.
The PAC has recommended strict action against the director of DSYS for negligence in disbursing the amount to the Commonwealth Youth Games organising committee without scrutiny.