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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has pulled up the Directorate of Estates (DoE) under the Ministry of Urban Development over the lack of accurate record of the housing stock.
“There has been a perpetual shortage of accommodation for Government servants in Delhi. DoE did not have an accurate record of the housing stock available with it. Moreover, augmentation of housing stock in the various pools has been done in an inequitable manner,” the CAG report on the functioning DoE for the year ended March 2015 said.
DoE is responsible for administration and management of residential and office accommodation in the metropolitan cities. Its responsibilities include maintenance of housing stock, registration of applicants for allotment of houses, preparation of waiting lists, updating information in respect of occupied and vacant houses, allotment of houses, cancellation of allotment on retirement, resignation, dismissal/death, penal action in case of subletting, misuse, accounting of Licence Fee etc.
“DoE’s website had indicated that there were 61,869 residential units in Delhi as on March 31, 2015. Moreover, DoE intimated in November 2015 that during April 2015 to October 2015, only 215 houses were added in the housing stock of GPRA. Thus, the number of residential units should have been only around 62,100 instead of 68,000 as indicated. It can be seen that discrepancies in the figures of housing stock are persisting,” the report said.
The CAG believes the differences in the housing stock at different places can be utilised by unscrupulous elements to keep houses outside the allotment cycle and may be used by unlawful elements for illegal activities. DoE should ensure that authentic housing stock is reconciled and updated at all locations at the earliest.
“Moreover, Licence Fee Collection and Monitoring System was not fully functional resulting in DoE not being able to monitor the receipt of the Licence Fee. Database of DoE and CPWD are not interlinked leading to delays in the reflection of vacancy position of houses in the GAMS database. DoE did not have accurate details of houses which are declared as unsafe or dangerous,” the report added.
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