‘Non-submission fraught with risk of misappropriation’
Edu, H&UD, Health deptts among major defaulters
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 4: Expressing serious concern over non-submission of Utilization Certificates (UCs) within specified time-frame, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has asked the Jammu and Kashmir Government to consider ‘discontinuing’ grants to those departments and autonomous bodies which have high pendency of vital certificates as this grave violation of Financial Rules is fraught with the risk of misappropriation of funds and fraud.
The autonomous bodies/authorities not having sufficient resources of their own are assisted financially by the Government through release of Grant-in-Aid (GIA) to be spent on specific purposes.
During the period between 2014-15 and 2018-19, Srinagar Municipal Corporation was given Grant-in-Aid of Rs 821.56 crore while as funds to the tune of Rs 578.89 crore were given to Jammu Municipal Corporation during this period. Similarly, Grant-in-Aid of Rs 312.14 crore was given to Urban Local Bodies of Kashmir and Rs 331.49 crore to Urban Local Bodies of Jammu.
Likewise, GIA of Rs 722.69 crore was given to Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) Kashmir and Rs 442.47 crore to SKUAST-Jammu. Similarly, GIA of Rs 788.31 crore was given to Kashmir University and Rs 581.58 crore to Jammu University.
J&K Sports Council was given Rs 129.52 crore during this period while as J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages was provided Rs 99.27 crore and Institute of Management and Public Administration was given GIA of Rs 62.94 crore. An amount of Rs 79.06 crore was given to Khadi and Village Industries Board. The other bodies/authorities were given Rs 5650.75 crore during the period between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
“Financial Rules provide that for the grants provided for specific purposes, Utilization Certificates should be obtained by the departmental officers from the grantees and after verification these should be forwarded to the Accountant General (A&E) Jammu and Kashmir within 18 months from the date of their sanction unless specified otherwise”, the CAG said in its latest report.
“However, 1774 Utilization Certificates worth Rs 8219.90 crore were outstanding as on March 31, 2019”, the CAG said, adding “out of 1774 outstanding UCs, 404 UCs amounting to Rs 2246.91 crore were outstanding for more than one year and 548 UCs amounting to Rs 3263.58 crore were outstanding for more than two years”.
Majority of the outstanding Utilization Certificates were awaited from Education Department (Rs 4741.49 crore), Housing and Urban Development Department (Rs 1137.64 crore), Agriculture Department (Rs 679.42 crore), Health and Family Welfare Department (Rs 344.09 crore) and Tourism Department (Rs 239.71 crore).
“Non submission of UCs results in non-assurance that the money was actually utilized for the purpose for which it was sanctioned and authorized”, the CAG said, adding “high pendency of UCs is fraught with the risk of misappropriation of funds and fraud”.
The supreme audit institution of the country has stressed that J&K Government may review whether it should continue to give more grants to the departments with high pendency of Utilization Certificates.
The report further said that audit of 55 autonomous bodies has been entrusted to CAG under Section 14 of the CAG’s (DPC) Act, 1971 and a total of 821 annual accounts were awaited from these autonomous bodies as on March 31, 2019. This is notwithstanding the fact that the matter was taken up with these bodies time and again for submission of annual accounts for audit.
The certification audit of accounts of autonomous bodies set up by the J&K Government is conducted by CAG under Section 19(3) and 20(1) of the CAG DPC Act, 1971. The autonomous bodies coming under the audit purview are required to submit the annual accounts to audit before June 20 every year.
However, in respect of 10 autonomous bodies which were to render annual accounts to CAG, 84 accounts were not submitted for the period ranging between one to 24 years.
These autonomous bodies are LAHDC Leh, LAHDC Kargil, Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority, SKUAST-K, SKUAST-J, EPF Board Srinagar, J&K Housing Board, Khadi Village and Industries Board, Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and State Legal Services Authority.
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