*Less share of resources used towards development of infra
Un-discharged liabilities in National Pension System detected
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 13: The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) were deprived of full 14th Finance Commission grants by the successive Governments in Jammu and Kashmir as a result of which these grass root level democratic institutions could not carry out developmental activities as per the expectations of the people of the rural areas. Moreover, the Government could not achieve its own targets for Tax Revenue projected in the Budget Estimates and provide sufficient share of resources towards development of the infrastructure.
These revelations have been made by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its latest report. As per 14th Finance Commission (FC) recommendations, a total amount of Rs 6,178.37 crore was projected between 2015 and 2020 as grants for Rural Local Bodies (Rs 3,463.73 crore), Urban Local Bodies (Rs 1,305.64 crore) and State Disaster Response Fund (Rs 1,409 crore) respectively. Against this, an amount of Rs 3,285.32 crore was released/allocated during the years 2015-20 (till 30 October 2019).
The amount of Rs 3,285.32 crore includes Rs 1,798.11 (Rs 173.50 crore for ULBs, Rs 1,219.61 crore for PRIs and Rs 405 crore for SDRF) received during 2019-20 (April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019). During the 14th FC Award period 2015-16 to 2019-20, J&K had received an amount of Rs 1,857.92 crore (till October 30, 2019) as grants for Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) against which only an amount of Rs 1,402.33 crore was released up to October 30, 2019 to PRIs and balance amount of Rs 455.59 crore remained with the Government ending October 30, 2019, the CAG has pointed out.
Due to this, the PRIs were deprived of full grants sanctioned by the 14th Finance Commission as a result of which these grass root level democratic institutions could not provide benefits of the Government of India financial assistance to the people of the rural areas.
Stating that Government’s performance in mobilization of resources is assessed in terms of its own resources comprising Own Tax and Non-Tax sources, the CAG said that the collection under State’s Own Tax Revenue fell short by 16 per cent of Budget Estimates during the period between April 1, 2019 and October 30, 2019.
“The receipts under Own Non-Tax Revenue were 112 per cent more than the Budget Estimates. The Government could not achieve its own targets for Own Tax Revenue projected in the Budget Estimates”, the audit institution said, adding “the State’s Own Resources (Own Tax Revenue and Own Non-Tax Revenue) of Rs 7,607 crore during 2019-20 was not enough to cover its committed liabilities like salaries, wages, interest payments and pension of Rs 21,345 crore.
The Government is vested with the responsibility of incurring expenditure within the framework of fiscal responsibility legislations, while at the same time ensuring that the ongoing fiscal correction and consolidation process of the State is not at the cost of expenditure directed towards development of capital infrastructure and social sector.
However, the CAG has pointed out that during the period April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019, the Revenue Expenditure had a predominant share of 86.95 per cent of the total expenditure. “The share of Capital Expenditure in total expenditure was 13.00 per cent during the same period. This indicates that less share of resources was being used towards development of infrastructure”, the report said.
The CAG has also detected un-discharged liabilities in National Pension System and has asked the Government to make efforts to expeditiously clear the un-transferred amounts at the close of the accounts.
In terms of the Defined Contribution Pension Scheme, the Government employees recruited on or after January 1, 2010, who are covered by the Scheme contribute 10 per cent of basic pay and dearness allowance, which is matched by the Government with equal amount.
As per Government instructions dated January 17, 2019, all Treasury Officers/Drawing and Disbursing Officers were advised that the pension contributions received between 1st and 18th of the month may be uploaded by 23rd of the same month and contributions received between 19th and 31st of the month may be uploaded by 10th of the following months.
During 2019-20 (April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019), the J&K Government contributed an amount of Rs 291.03 crore as Government share and the employees also contributed their share of Rs 224.44 crore. The entire amount of Rs 515.47 crore was transferred to the Minor Head 117-Defined Contribution Pension Scheme (New Pension Scheme) for the Government Employees under Major Head 8342-Other Deposits.
Out of Rs 637.15 crore (including previous liability of Rs 121.68 crore), Rs 583.48 crore was transferred from this Head of Deposit Account to the designated fund manager through the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL)/Trustee Bank. As such , as on October 30, 2019, an amount of Rs 53.67 crore was lying under the Major Head-8342 – “Other Deposits”- 117 “Defined Contribution Pension Scheme” (New Pension Scheme) for the Government employees (which are deposits bearing interest) awaiting transfer to NSDL/Trustee Bank, the CAG has pointed out.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
