This policy proves a godsend for all the drawing and disbursing officers who quickly squander these large sums suddenly put at their disposal. Spurious contractors are put together, forged receipts are obtained from them, all the new funds are thus entered in the account books as exhausted by the stipulated date and every such officer finds himself richer by millions every year.
All officers including the audit staff, receive their due share.
Billions of rupees of public money are embezzled in this way annually, burdening the common tax payer with ever increasing national loans. A further continuing scourge is the direct public fleecing by government officials. Money extorted by the state-power monopoly holders like the patwari, the thanedar, the traffic policeman, the excise officer, the registration clerk, the ADBP manager, and so on, is distributed right up to the top. For example, a deputy commissioner is never known to accept bribes because he does not need to. Another way public money is wasted is through duplication of staff recruited unnecessarily.