Rs 1023 cr expended in 4th quarter, Rs 895 cr in March
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 30: Despite being slammed by the Accountant General, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has yet not shown seriousness towards strict adherence to the Financial Rules as a result of which tendency to utilize the budget at the close of financial year is still prevailing. Moreover, the Government has failed to meet the targets fixed under Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2006.
This can be gauged from the report of Accountant General (A&E) of Jammu and Kashmir for 2014-15 financial year, which was presented in the State Legislature during the Budget Session.
The Financial Rules explicitly stipulate that the rush of expenditure particularly in the closing month of the financial year shall be regarded as a breach of financial regularity and should be avoided. However, the expenditure incurred under certain selected heads of account during March 2015 ranged between 50% and 100% of the total expenditure during the year thereby indicating a tendency to utilize the budget at the close of financial year.
Substantiating this, the Accountant General (A&E) Jammu and Kashmir K Subramaniam said that an amount of Rs 14.5 crore was expended during the first quarter of 2014-15 under Account Heads—Secretariat Economic Services, Capital Outlay on Public Works, Capital Outlay on Other Administrative Services, Capital Outlay on Miscellaneous General Services, Capital Outlay on Soil and Water Conservation, Capital Outlay on Information and Publicity, Capital Outlay on Village and Small Industries etc.
The expenditure during the 2nd quarter was to the tune of Rs 113.48 crore while as during the 3rd quarter the same was recorded at Rs 211.58 crore. However, during the 4th quarter the expenditure under these Account Heads was to the tune of Rs 1023 crore. Most astonishingly, out of Rs 1023 crore expended during the 4th quarter, the expenditure during the month of March 2015 was to the tune of Rs 895.44 crore.
This indicates that during the months of January and February 2015 the expenditure was only Rs 128.06 crore. Moreover, these figures clearly establish that percentage of expenditure during March 2015 with respect to total expenditure of 2014-15 ranged between 54.40% and 78.67%.
In this way, the Government blatantly violated the Financial Rules and promoted breach of financial regularity despite the fact that Accountant General, Jammu and Kashmir has repeatedly been stressing upon the State Government to bring an end to the practice of rush of expenditure during the last month of the financial year.
“The Government is not only promoting financial indiscipline but also paying scant regard to the findings of the Accountant General, which otherwise are of immense importance”, sources remarked.
The Accountant General has also pointed out that during 2014-15, supplementary grants totaling Rs 9556 crore (18% of the total expenditure) proved to be unnecessary as in some cases there were significant savings at the end of the year even against original allocation.
It is pertinent to mention here that substantial savings under a grant indicates either non implementation or slow implementation of certain schemes and programmes.
The Jammu and Kashmir Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2006 requires the State Government to ensure prudence in fiscal management by limiting its fiscal deficit and keeping its debt management at sustainable level. It also assumes greater transparency in fiscal operations.
However, the report of the Accountant General indicates that several targets fixed under FRBM for the year 2014-15 could not be achieved by the State Government.
Under the financial parameter of Revenue Surplus, the target was of 8.8% of total Revenue Receipts. However, instead of Revenue Surplus there was Revenue Deficit of 1.35% during the financial year 2014-15.
Similarly, under Fiscal Deficit parameter, there was a target of 3% of GSDP but the State recorded 6.38% of GSDP which was increase of 1.16% over the preceding financial year. Likewise, under Outstanding Liabilities parameter, the target was 49.30% of GSDP but the State’s outstanding liabilities were 55%, which was an increase of 4% over preceding financial year.
There was Revenue Expenditure of Rs 29329 crore for 2014-15 against original budget estimates of Rs 33308 crore resulting in saving of Rs 3979 crore due to less disbursement of Rs 496 crore under Plan Expenditure and Rs 3483 crore under Non-Plan Expenditure. “The State needs to maintain a revenue surplus in terms of J&K FRBM Act, 2007”, the Accountant General has stressed in the report.
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