Bhubaneswar: Following uproar in the Assembly over non-submission of audit reports of universities in the House for the last 20 years, Speaker Surya Narayan Patro Tuesday asked the authorities concerned to submit all the pending audit reports during next session of the Assembly.
Giving a ruling in the House in the evening, Patro said, “As per Section 23 (2) of The Odisha Universities Act 1989, the state-run universities are mandated to submit annual/audit report in the Assembly every year.”
He asked the departments concerned to submit all pending annual/audit reports during next session. The Speaker also instructed his Secretariat officials to communicate with the officials to execute the order.
Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra had raised this issue during Zero Hour, July 20. Congress members had rushed to the well of the House demanding a ruling from the Speaker. The House was also adjourned from 11:55 am to 12:50 pm and then till 3 pm on that day. The Speaker had to convene an all-party meeting to restore normalcy in the House.
Alleging that non-submission of audit reports hinted at irregularities in the functioning of universities, Mishra had demanded that ministers of the department under which the universities function should be called for a discussion.
Mishra had stated the decision of not presenting audit reports is a violation of Odisha University Act, 1989. Later, the Speaker had also held a meeting with Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo, department secretary and director in this regard.