Information Kerala Mission - Audit Charges Against IKM

Audit Charges Against IKM

The public audit agency of Govt of India, viz., Comptroller and Auditor General of India had indicted charges of omission against the activities of Information Kerala Mission, after conducting detailed investigations into the affairs of the functioning of IKM. In the audit document, CAG mentioned that the entire project had amongst many shortcomings,

1. 'Absence of a well-conceived project report',
2. 'Inconsistent procurement policy',
3. 'Non-utilisation of Central Govt's assistance',
4. 'Wasteful expenditure expenses on technical persons',
5. 'Lack of Supervision', amongst other charges, and
6. 'Inconsistencies in its software'.

CAG hasn't lifted these audit observations till date.

Information Kerala Mission is widely accused of developing software solutions deploying proprietary services from Microsoft Inc, which goes against the 'letter and spirit' of the IT policy promulgated by the State Government. The IT Policy insists that all public software solutions be developed only with Free Software.