*J&K’s fiscal liabilities rise to Rs 79,105 cr
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 25: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pointed out that funds amounting to the tune of Rs 2486 crore in the year 2018-19, which were reserve, were used for other purposes while overall fiscal liabilities of the erstwhile State stood at Rs 79,105 crore as on March 2019.
The State Finances Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended 31st March 2019 was tabled in the Parliament yesterday as there is no Legislature in the Union Territory because of the delay in conduct of Assembly elections.
The CAG report ended March 2019 has been prepared in accordance with Article 151 of the Constitution of India. As per the decision of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance (June 1994), wherever President’s Rule is extended beyond one year, the CAG’s report relating to the State would be placed in Parliament. Therefore, the report was sent to the President for laying in the Parliament.
Consequent to the re-organization of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, under the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, the report has also been sent to the Lieutenant Governors of the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The Report contains the findings of performance audit and audit of transactions in various departments, audit of Statutory Corporations, Boards and Government Companies and observations on revenue receipts.
“Cash balance for the year 2018-19 wasn’t even equal to the earmarked reserve funds amounting to Rs 2486 crore which means that reserve funds were used for other than the intended purpose,’’ the report pointed out.
It put overall fiscal liabilities of Jammu and Kashmir at Rs 79,105 crore as on March 31, 2019.
“The accumulated fiscal liabilities were 1.54 times of the Government’s revenue receipts and 5.58 times of the Government’s Own Resources as on 31st March 2019. The buoyancy ratio of these liabilities with respect to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) during 2018-19 was 1.39 indicating that for each one percent increase in GSDP, the fiscal liabilities grew by 1.39 times,’’ the CAG report said.
Revenue surplus of Rs 7,595 crore of 2017-18 turned to revenue deficit of Rs 4,859 crore during 2018-19 mainly due to implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendation for J&K Government employees. There was an increase in salary by Rs 8,029 crore during 2018-19 contributing to the revenue deficit. This increase in salary also includes arrears to the tune of Rs 3,900 crore on account of implementation of Pay Commission recommendation which were credited to GPF Accounts by way of book adjustment. This has resulted in one time impact on revenue deficit to that extent. Fiscal Deficit (FD) increased from Rs 2,778 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 13,337 crore in 2018-19. The State had a Primary Deficit of Rs 8,128 crore in 2018-19 as compared to Primary Surplus of Rs 1,885 crore during 2017-18,” the CAG said.
The repor said during 2018-19, expenditure of Rs 85,241.37 crore was incurred against total grants and appropriation of Rs 1,09,479,22 crore. Overall savings of Rs 24,237.85 crore was the result of saying of Rs 28,869.38 crore in various grants and appropriations offset by excess of Rs 4,631.53 crore in five grants and an appropriation, which required regularization under Section 82 of the erstwhile Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir in addition to Rs 1.14,061.35 crore for the year 1980-2018.
There were persistent savings in six grants during 2014-19. In 16 cases, supplementary provision proved to be unnecessary as the expenditure was less than the original provision,w hile in four grants supplementary provision proved to be insufficient resulting in excess expenditure, the report pointed out.
“During 2018-19, a sum of Rs 1,874.17 crore of Grants-in-Aid, subsidy of Rs 99.18 crore, Rs 0.19 crore of Stipend and Scholarship, Rs 2.24 crore as Salary and Rs 286.21 crore under operating cost of procurement sale of essential commodities through PDS were disbursed under the Capital Major Heads of expenditure, as against the requirement of their accounting in revenue heads,” the report said.
The CAG said 1,774 Utilization Certificates in respect of loans and grants involving Rs 8,219.90 crore against various departments were outstanding as on 31st March, 2019. “The J&K Government may review whether they should continue to give more grants to departments with high pendency of UC’s. Abnormal delays were noticed in submission of annual accounts by some of the departmental commercial undertakings and autonomous bodies,” it added.
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