Interim Report Submitted Regarding Irregularities In Functioning Of Akshaya Patra Foundation

An interim report concerning allegations made by former trustees of the Akshaya Patra Foundation has been submitted by a committee led by ex-Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) of India KV Chowdhury, Hindustan Times reports.

Now, further details have been asked on this issue from statuary auditors EY and KPMG for the time being. The Akshaya Patra foundation is a non-profit organization operating a school lunch program in the country.

Last November, a panel comprising of two members was created to probe the irregularities in the organization’s functioning.

This included looking into their non-maintenance of details of parties that used the kitchens of this foundation for purposes other than the government-sponsored midday meal initiative. “The interim report has been submitted by the committee but the committee has sought (a) report from the statutory auditors EY and KPMG. This report is expected in the month of march,” a spokesperson of the organization was quoted in the report.

Akshay Patra Foundation has 52 kitchens across 12 states and a couple of union territories of India. It provides 1.2 million meals on a daily basis and receives financial aids from several state governments and the central government.

Former Wipro chief financial officer and an ex-audit committee member of the foundation Suresh Senapathy had accused that that the costs per meal of the organization were higher than that offered by other firms.

“Any amount of questioning/review didn’t yield any result because the individual kitchens are run by missionary unit presidents who never demonstrated their accountability to the Akshaya Patra organization. After due investigation, in almost all cases, it has been established that there has been wrongdoing on the part of Unit Presidents and / or other missionaries.”

There have been demands for a transparent audit of the foundation. As per the 2018-19 annual report, the organization had earned Rs 52,118.33 lakh and spent Rs 51,627.02 lakh that year. The government paid them Rs 247 crore whereas it received Rs 352 crore from donations in the last fiscal year.

“Some (statements) are suggestions made, implemented that the previous board did not know, some might be baseless and some have merits that the new audit committee has said,” an individual in the know of things told HT.