(a) whether the Government has conducted internal land audit of defence land on
regular basis all over the country;
(b) if so, whether this process has been completed in the current financial year
and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether any irregularities have been found in internal land audit report by
the Controller of Defence Accounts; and
(d) if so, the details thereof and the action taken in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (SHRI A.K. ANTONY)
(a)&(b): Considering the importance of land as precious national resource, it has been
decided that conduct of land audit will be resumed and shall be conducted by Directorate
General of Defence Estates (DGDE). Initially, orders for conduct of land-audit have been
issued in respect of 6 (Six) Defence Estates Office (DEO) Circles in Southern Command, i.e.
Chennai, Mumbai, Jodhpur, Vizag, Goa and Cochin and one DEO Circle Meerut in Central Command.
The work is to be completed during the current financial year.
(c)&(d): Ministry of Defence issued directions to Controller General of Defence Accounts
(CGDA) to carry out a special performance audit study of the land acquisition cases for the
three Services being dealt by DGDE. In their report submitted to the Ministry, CGDA made a
number of recommendations including for internal audit to review utilization of temporarily
surplus land. All recommendations were considered by the Ministry of Defence. Accordingly
land audit is being conducted by DGDE which among other objectives covers efficient usage of
defence land also.