(ET)
The petroleum ministry has asked oil marketing companies Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil to recover Rs 108 crore from its employees after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that these companies had given pre-loaded cards and vouchers to them on completion of 15, 20 and 25 years of service in violation of rules. The pre-loaded cards and vouchers were issued in place of gold coins distributed earlier, which was stopped in 2015 after the ministry said these were over and above the entitlement of bonus and thus in violation of government rules.
“The expenditure of Rs 107.63 crore incurred by BPCL and IOC under the long service award scheme was in contravention of DPE guidelines of the administrative ministry and the recovery is yet to be effected,” CAG noted in its audit report tabled in Parliament last week. The ministry has informed the CAG that it has examined the matter in consultation with IOC and BPCL and directed both companies to recover the “unauthorised” payments made to their employees. The two companies have been asked to furnish action taken report on the matter.
