Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 17: In a significant decision aimed at enforcing financial discipline in the Departments including implementation of expenditure reforms mentioned in two consecutive budgets of the State, the Finance Department has decided to cut the budgetary allocations of four Departments for their failure to meet the targets.
This is for the first time in the history of Jammu and Kashmir that a cut has been imposed on budgetary allocation of four Government Departments for failure to meet the targets of expenditure i.e. 70 per cent of the total budget up to December 31, 2017.
Official sources told the Excelsior that four Government Departments including Power, R&B, Urban Development and Irrigation & Flood Control had failed to meet the target of 70 per cent expenditure by December 31. In view of this “symbolic cuts” in the budget have been imposed on them, which would serve as deterrent to other Government Departments that the financial discipline guidelines can’t be taken lightly.
The guidelines state that only 30 per cent expenditure can be incurred during last quarter of the financial year i.e. January 1 to March 31 while 70 per cent funds had to be used during first three quarters from April 1 to December 31. This has been done to avoid last quarter expenditure rush especially in the month of March, which had been the case earlier during which certain “misappropriations and irregularities” also used to take place.
Sources said all four Government Departments, which were unable to meet the target up to December 31 have been advised to strictly observe the fiscal discipline in future to avoid more cuts in their budgetary allocations.
“The expenditure reforms were now part of the Appropriation Bill, which has been passed by both Houses of the Legislature and, therefore, they have legal sanctity. The Government Departments have been left with no option but to observe the guidelines mentioned in the Appropriation Bill or, otherwise, they could significantly lose the funds,” sources pointed out.
Asserting that “financial and expenditure discipline” had to be enforced at any costs, sources said: “this was in the interest of Jammu and Kashmir, which has very limited working season in some of the districts, where no development can be carried out from November to March due to snowfall. It was in this context that they had been released 50 per cent budgetary allocations even before start of the financial year so that they could utilize the working season for development”.
Sources said the Administrative Departments would, in turn, ensure release of funds to the subordinate offices within four weeks of their receipt, failing which these funds would be deemed to have been transferred to the intended Drawing and Disbursing Offices on the dates they ought to have been released by the Administrative Departments or Controlling Officers.
“The Planning Development and Monitoring Department will ensure that all plan allocations to be made in the next fiscal bear proper classification, indicating, name of the work or scheme against detailed head-115 works,” sources said adding in the absence of the schematic classification, the relevant Capex release shall be deemed as invalid and not open to being operationalization.
Sources said that no payments would be made by any Treasury or Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) from April 1, under any expenditure head, if the releases for the same have not been made and further received by the spending and bill passing Officers via Budget Estimation Allocation Management System (BEAMS). Treasury Officers/PAOs shall be personally liable for making payments on the funds released and received bypassing the BEAMS application, he added.
Sources said the Planning Development and Monitoring Department has been asked to mandatorily upload department-wise `Name of the Schemes/Works/Projects, forming part of the Capex budget for the fiscal years of 2018-19, or, as per the format notified from time to time along with respective allocations on its website.
“Only such works will be authorized for execution, which have prior administrative approval, technical sanction and appropriate financial back-up. Expenditure monitoring across all departments will be done on a real time basis through PFMS,” sources disclosed.
“The procurement plans of the departments for the next fiscal shall be limited by an outermost cap of 60 days, starting April 1. From conceiving the nature and quantity of public goods and services to be procured to preparing tenders/RFQs/EoIs to finally awarding the contract, the departments shall compulsorily finish the whole process by May 30, 2018,” sources said and added that any spill-over in timelines shall be automatically visited with the appropriate disciplinary actions.
According to sources, all the guidelines proposed by the Finance Department were aimed at giving momentum to developmental works in the State.
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