Plan Panel Wants Nandans UIDAI to be Monitored

The Planning Commission has raised questions about the administrative structure of the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) and called for the appointment of an independent financial advisor to monitor its finances and transactions,days after the finance ministry rejected the authoritys.15,000 crore funding proposal.The UIDAIs present system represents a major departure from government procedures and removes all inbuilt checks and balances.We need a relook at the UIDAIs administrative structure, the commission wrote in a letter to the finance ministry in the third week of September.The commission has pointed out that though the UIDAI was set up as its attached office in January 2009 and derives its budget from the ministry of planning,it has never got to examine any of the authoritys financial proposals till date.It says the cabinet and expenditure proposals of the UIDAI need to normally be seen by its secretary and financial advisor.But neither the secretary nor the financial advisor is in the loop. In a subsequent letter to the finance ministry,the commission has asked for a full-time financial advisor to be placed in the UIDAI tasked with the responsibility of looking into its financial sanctions and clearances.It has objected to the decisionmaking structure in the UIDAI that delegates the powers of a financial advisor to a deputy director-general who is also responsible for the authoritys programmes and projects.Typically,financial advisors of government departments are not entrusted with any discretionary policy-making powers so that they can take a fair and independent view of financial proposals.