Meant For SC/ST Apprentices, BOAT Mumbai Diverted ₹17.34 Cr To General Candidates

The Board of Apprenticeship Training (BOAT) in Mumbai redirected ₹17.34 crore allocated for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) apprentices to fund stipends for General-category candidates, according to a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report, as Hindustan Times reported.

BOAT Mumbai had received separate grants for SC, ST and General-category apprentices. This diversion occurred between the financial years 2020-21 and 2022-23. The CAG detailed this financial irregularity in a report on central autonomous bodies under the education ministry, tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

Shortfalls In Apprentice Engagement

The Mumbai institution enrolled 142,393 apprentices during the reviewed three-year period. This total included 10,736 SC candidates and 3,607 ST candidates.

Auditors discovered a 25% deficit in hiring SC apprentices and a 72% deficit for ST candidates against mandated targets.

Instead of keeping the unused ₹17.34 crore for its designated objective, BOAT Mumbai used it to pay stipends to General-category apprentices. The board executed this transfer without seeking necessary authorisations, the CAG report stated.

Severe Lapses At IIM

The national audit identified extensive irregularities at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Rohtak. The CAG documented a series of governance, financial, procurement and human resource lapses at the institute.

Specifically, IIM Rohtak overstated its corpus fund by ₹267.45 crore, the audit report stated. The institute also paid ₹88.64 lakh in salaries to 10 individuals without complete recruitment records.

Deficiencies In Other Institutions

Multiple other educational bodies faced scrutiny in the parliamentary document. The National Testing Agency (NTA) paid ₹54.24 lakh in avoidable penal interest due to delayed tax deducted at source (TDS) deposits over three financial years.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) incurred ₹23.57 crore of infructuous expenditure on its Gyan Vani network.

The Central University of Tamil Nadu recorded procurement irregularities involving ₹8.16 crore. The report also flagged accreditation and technology deficiencies at the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC).