{"id":671061,"date":"2026-11-15T02:22:26","date_gmt":"2026-11-15T06:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/671061\/"},"modified":"2026-11-15T02:22:26","modified_gmt":"2026-11-15T06:22:26","slug":"kerala-high-court-criticizes-governments-move-to-block-comprehensive-audit-of-kifb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/671061\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerala High Court Criticizes Government’s Move to Block Comprehensive Audit of KIFB"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kerala<\/figure>\n

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has criticized the State Government\u2019s previous stance of denying permission to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to conduct a comprehensive audit of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board\u2019s (KIFB) accounts. The court observed that it was concerning that detailed audit approval was withheld despite preliminary scrutiny revealing serious discrepancies. Meanwhile, the court was informed that the government has now granted consent for the CAG\u2019s comprehensive examination. The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Saumen Sen and Justice V.M. Shyamakumar, expressed this criticism while disposing of a public interest litigation concerning KIFB\u2019s financial transactions. The court stressed the necessity of ensuring full transparency in the financial dealings and operations of KIFB, an institution that receives government financial aid and whose loans are guaranteed by the state. According to an affidavit submitted by the CAG, as per accounts up to March 31, 2024, KIFB\u2019s outstanding loan balance is Rs 20,041.52 crore. The court also took note of the fact that the state government has undertaken the liability to repay the principal and interest on the loans raised by the institution. Under Section 14 of the CAG Act, the Accountant General had earlier examined KIFB\u2019s receipt and expenditure accounts. However, the CAG requested authority under other provisions of the Act to conduct a comprehensive audit involving a detailed analysis and certification of financial documents, including the balance sheet. This request, submitted in March 2018, was rejected by the state government. The government explained that independent checks and monitoring of KIFB\u2019s finances were already in place through the Fund Trustee and Advisory Commission (FTAC). Yet, the CAG reiterated its demand for a comprehensive audit twice in 2019. The petitioner argued that the loans raised by KIFB under the government guarantee should be treated as off-budget borrowings, which, the petition alleged, circumvent the borrowing restrictions under Article 293(3) of the Constitution. The petition called for a full audit by the CAG encompassing KIFB\u2019s balance sheet, income and expenditure accounts, loans, government guarantees, and off-budget financial obligations. The High Court\u2019s observations underscore the importance of stringent scrutiny and accountability in the operations of institutions that deploy public funds and create financial liabilities for the government.<\/p>\n

n<\/p>\n

Original Malayalam report: Malayalam Daily News<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has criticized the State Government\u2019s previous stance of denying permission to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to conduct a comprehensive audit of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board\u2019s (KIFB) accounts. The court observed that it was concerning that detailed audit approval was withheld despite preliminary scrutiny revealing serious discrepancies. Meanwhile, the court was informed that the government has now granted consent for the CAG\u2019s comprehensive examination. The division bench, comprising Chief Justice Saumen Sen and Justice V.M. Shyamakumar, expressed this criticism while disposing of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":671062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[582,170398,47748],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-kerala","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.malayalamdailynews.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}