Chandigarh, February 3: Despite objections raised by the finance department for at least three times, the Punjab government has authorised 526 judges across the state to get new furniture for their official accommodation after every five years. They can do this without depositing the auction money of old furniture in the state government treasury.
Each judicial officer in Punjab is provided furniture worth to Rs 1.25 lakh after every five years and total cost comes to around Rs 6.58 crore.
After receiving the proposal from the justice department, the Punjab finance department had raised objections on the non-deposit of money raised from the auction of old furniture in the government treasury. It had pointed out that any step taken to do away with the ongoing practice would amount to audit objection and loss to the government coffers.
A senior official said the finance department had reasoned that as furniture does not loose its entire value in just five years, an officer being provided new furniture should auction his old furniture and deposit the amount in the government treasury. However, the state government has decided to allow judges new furniture without depositing the cost value of the old furniture in the treasury.
