Finance Secy begins deptt-wise meetings to discuss issue
FD removes order from website when approached for comments
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 22: Creating worrisome situation for the State, the Government departments have failed to meet the targets for the revenue realization during the financial year 2018-19 and in order to ensure that prevailing state of affairs doesn’t become complicated during the new financial year, the Principal Secretary to Government Finance Department has started department-wise meetings to chalk out the strategy.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that as per the budgetary exercise, targets for realization of Tax and Non-Tax Revenue are fixed for the departments by the Government well before the start of every financial year and at the closure of the financial year the achievements on this account of all the departments are minutely analyzed.
Budget letter issued by Finance Department
As per this practice, each and every department was given targets for realization of Tax and Non-Tax Revenue at the beginning of 2018-19 financial year and thereafter on numerous occasions stress was laid by the Chief Secretary as well as Finance Secretary for strictly meeting the targets keeping in view the constraints of resources in the State and increased dependence on the funding from the Union Government, they further said.
Vide Communication No. FD-VII-Gen. (110)2009-10 dated March 20, 2019, the Budget Division of the Finance Department drew the attention of all the Administrative Secretaries towards submission of revenue targets for the financial year 2018-19. They were directed that the revenue targets conveyed by the Finance Department through Budget Estimation, Allocation and Monitoring System (BEAMS) application should be accorded due attention.
“All the Heads of the Departments concerned will ensure the realization of revenue receipts in full by the end of March 31, 2019 and ensure complete adherence to the realization of revenue targets both under Tax Revenue and Non-Tax Revenue. The shortfall in realization of revenue targets, for any reason, may lead to consequential deduction in budgetary provision of the concerned department”, the Finance Department had made it clear in the communication of March 20, 2019.
However, these directives have not yielded the desirable results vis-à-vis realization of Tax Revenue and Non-Tax Revenue and latest communication of the Finance Department is the testimony of the same.
“It has been observed that there is a shortfall in revenue realization during the financial year 2018-19 in respect of both Tax Revenue and Non-Tax Revenue”, read the Communication No. FD-VII-Gen (110)2009-10 dated April 18, 2019 addressed by Deputy Director Budget Javeed Maqbool Khanday to all the Administrative Secretaries.
Perturbed over shortfall in revenue realization, the Principal Secretary to Government, Finance Department Arun Kumar Mehta has started taking department-wise meetings to discuss the issue and strategize the revenue realization during the financial year 2019-20 so that prevailing state of the affairs doesn’t become complicated during the current financial year, sources said.
When contacted to ascertain the intensity of shortfall in revenue realization, Director General Budget in the Finance Department Mohammad Yaqoob Itoo refused to admit that there was any significant shortfall. “This is our internal exercise……what sort of interest you have developed in it”, he further said, adding “the convening of meetings by the Principal Secretary to Government Finance Department is a routine exercise”.
When his attention was drawn towards the order dated April 18, 2019, which was also available on the website of the Finance Department, the Director General Budget reiterated: “This is a routine activity of the Finance Department…..there is nothing significant”.
However, within few minutes after the brief telephonic interaction with EXCELSIOR, the Director General Budget got the order removed from the official website of Finance Department, which means that Finance Department officers don’t want failure of the Government departments in revenue realization comes to the public domain.
“The shortfall in revenue realization is a very serious issue as State is largely dependent on the Central assistance and if own resources continue to decline the dependence will increase considerably and that would not augur well for the State”, sources remarked.
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