Representative image

GHAZIABAD: Appointments of over 200 employees in the Ghaziabad Development Authority ( GDA ) are under the scanner of the Comptroller & Auditor General ( CAG ) of India that is probing the functioning of the civic body, sources said.

The CAG audit of the authority began in April after the Yogi Adityanath government gave the go-ahead for the same soon after coming to power. The audit, according to sources, is nearing completion.

Sources said the CAG team has sought clarifications from senior officials on the appointment of over 200 employees in GDA, allegedly without following procedure.

As per the procedure, certain appointments in GDA could be made following a government order (GO) or through recommendations of the development authority’s board that has to be vetted by a GO within a certain time. But there are reportedly over 200 appointments on which GDA was unable to produce GOs in support. Though it is still unclear as to what will go in CAG’s final report, sources said the issue has both former and current GDA officials concerned.

The previous state government of Samajwadi Party (SP), under Akhilesh Yadav, had locked horns with UP governor and the central government last year over allowing a CAG audit of GDA.

Last June, a team had started an audit but it was discontinued on the ground that there was no clearance from the state government. While GDA had maintained that it does not fall under the ambit of the CAG because it does not use resources out of the Consolidated Fund of India, the then state government had maintained that GDA generates its own resources and is a non-profit body.

On February 8 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his election rally at Ghaziabad, had said he would ensure a CAG audit of all development authorities, including GDA, if the BJP was elected.

Even in the first week of April this year, a team of CAG officials had approached GDA for conducting an audit but the officials had refused them on the same grounds.

