Chief Minister Mr. Digambar Kamat violated the government rules to host a lunch in honour of President of India Mrs. Pratibha Patil during her controversial visit to Goa in January this year.
Though as per Goa government’s own notification only an amount of Rs 80000 could have been spent on the 80 guests invited to that lunch, however a total expenditure of Rs 1, 19, 999 was incurred. The rules require that prior approval of the Finance department has to be obtained if any excess expenditure beyond the permissible limit has to be incurred. However approval for the excess expenditure of Rs 39,999 incurred was sanctioned by the State Finance Secretary only on 23rd March 2011, over two months after the lunch was hosted. Though the Chief Minister’s prior official approval for hosting the lunch was also required, this approval was obtained by the Protocol department over a month later only on 25th February 2011. This is a clear case of the government violating its own rules. The expenditure incurred is yet another case of government squandering public funds and later trying to legalise the illegality. Every paisa from the State exchequer has to be judiciously spent and properly accounted for. Aires Rodrigues T1 - B30, Ribandar Retreat Ribandar - Goa - 403006 Mobile: 9822684372
