Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Mar 9: In violation of J&K Financial Code, which recommends that run of expenditures in the closing month of a financial year should be avoided, there was a rush of Government spending towards the end of year thus raising doubts of the public money misappropriation.
During the last financial year, a number of the State Government Departments incurred maximum of their expenditures in last quarter and more particularly in closing month of the year 2012-13.
The percentage of expenditures by some departments in the last quarter was above 90 whereas in the month of March, it was above 70 percent of the total spending in the financial year.
This has been pointed out by Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its report on State Accounts for the year ending March 31, 2013.
“The expenditures incurred under certain selected Heads of Accounts during March 2013 range between 50 percent and hundred percent of the total expenditure during the year, thus indicating a tendency to utilize the budget at the close of financial year in breach of financial regularity,” observes the CAG report, which was tabled in both the Houses recently.
The breach of financial regularity was detected under 12 Heads of Accounts for different Departments, which included capital outlay on Village and Small Industries, Soil and Water Conservation, Welfare of Scheduled Cast, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, Housing, Animal Husbandry, Administrative Services, Stationary and Printing, Census Survey and Statistics, Economic Services and Election etc.
In these Head of Accounts, major capital outlay was shown ‘utilized’ at fag end of the financial year for the reasons best known to the concerned authorities.
According to the CAG report, 72.44 percent of the annual capital outlay on other Administrative Services was spent in the month of March while the spending percentage in last quarter of the year was above 81.
Similarly, 70.54 percent of the capital outlay on Housing was spent in the month of March and about 90 percent of the total budget was shown utilized in 4th quarter of the financial year.
Of its total annual expenditure, the Secretariat Economic Services spent 71 percent in fourth quarter of the year and 59.11 percent in the month of March.
The percentage of expenditure in the month of March of the financial year 2012-13 under Head of Accounts for Election, Census Survey and Statistics and Stationary and Printing, was 57.61, 76.35 and 64.56 respectively.
The percentage flow of expenditure under these heads during last quarter of the year, was 65, 81 and 90 respectively.
Similarly, the expenditure incurred under capital outlay on Nutrition, Crop Husbandry, Village & Small Industries, Soil & Water Conservation and SC, ST & OBC in the month of March was 67.06, 60.93, 54.63 and 60.93 percent of the total budget.
Rush of expenditures in closing month of the financial year not only reveals poor budgetary control over State finances but also raises doubts over genuineness of the spending by the Government Departments.
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