Asks J&K Govt to be more realistic
Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Mar 28: Comptroller and Auditor General of India has urged the J&K UT Government to be more realistic in its budgetary assumptions and ensure efficient control mechanism to curtail savings / excess expenditure.
In its report on Finances for the year 2022-23, presented in UT Assembly today, the CAG has taken serious exception of excess expenditure over the approved grants and stressed that the same may be regularised at the earliest along with fixing responsibility on officials concerned for incurring excess expenditure.
The report said that the concerned officers be made aware of their responsibility to explain the variation in expenditure from the allocation to facilitate proper analysis of budget and preparation of meaningful appropriation accounts.
CAG report urged the Government to strengthen the financial monitoring to avoid rush of expenditure at the fag end of the year. Moreover, the system for timely submission of surrender orders and re-appropriation orders to the Principal Accountant General (A&E) needs to be enforced.
The report said the re-appropriation /augmentation from revenue to Capital heads or vice versa needs to be stopped.
The report pointed out that the UT Government did not make compliance with IGAS-2 as against the requirements of the Indian Government Accounting Standards (IGAS). It further pointed out that accounting and classification of Grants in Aid and IGAS-3 loans and advances were made by the Government.
CAG report, while passing strictures against the UT Government revealed that despite the requirement of Submitting Utilisation Certificates (UCs) against conditional grants within a stipulated time period,3733 UCs amounting to Rs 14,698.75 crore were pending as on March 31 of 2023 out of which 2431 UCs amounting to Rs 8142.65 crore pertained to a period prior to October 30 of 2019 or the erstwhile State of J&K.
Similarly, despite the requirement of submitting Detailed Countersigned Contingency (DC) Bills against the advance money withdrawn through Abstract Contingency (AC) (DC) Bills against the advance money withdrawn through Abstract Contingency (AC) Bills , 3446 AC Bills of Rs 19,744.97 crore were pending for submission of DC bills as on March 31 of 2023 out of which 1,877 AC Bills amounting to Rs 5583.15 crore pertained to the period prior to October 30 of 2019 of the erstwhile State of the J&K.
The report made it clear that compliance with prevailing rules and codal provisions are meant to ensure control and accountability in accounting and financial reporting. Non compliance and deviations impact the quality of accounting and financial reporting adversely, it added.
The CAG report pointed out that non submission of UCs against conditional grants, non submission of DC bills against AC Bills; non compliance with IGAS -2 and IGAS-3 have impacted the quality of accounts adversely.
The report urged the Government to impress upon the PSUs with arrears in accounts to expedite finalisation of their financial statements so that they remain within legislative oversight and analyse the reasons for losses in those PSUs whose net worth has eroded and initiate steps to make their operations efficient and profitable.
The report said that the UT Government spent Rs 10,773.78 crore only on capital account. This was 14.59 percent of the total expenditure in the year 2022-2023. It said during 2022-2023 the UT Government utilised 87.52 percent of its current borrowings for repayment of borrowings. Thus the borrowed funds were being used mainly for repayment of borrowings instead of capital creation / development activities.
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