Lump sum budgetary provision of Rs 3430 cr placed with officers
*Excess expenditure of Rs 2210 cr made in 9 months
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 11: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has detected lack of transparency in the Budgetary and Accounting Process and preparation of allocations on unrealistic proposals in Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, it has brought to the fore placement of lump sum budgetary provision of Rs 3430 crore with the Controlling Officers in contravention to the State Financial Rules and excess expenditure of Rs 2210 crore in nine months.
Pointing towards transparency of Budgetary and Accounting Process, the supreme audit institution of the country, in its report, said, “the Jammu and Kashmir Budget Manual envisages that making of lump sum provisions, if at all necessary, should be resorted to only in very rare cases. The inclusion of lump sum provisions in a budget has to be exceptional and not followed as a rule as the lump sum provisions without identifying the exact object of expenditure is against transparency”.
During audit, it came to the fore that lump sum budgetary provision of Rs 3,430.52 crore, which constitute 17 per cent of total provision of Rs 20,130.22 crore of the grant was placed with Controlling Officers in Finance Department under two Major Heads—Pension and Other Retirement Benefits and Interest Payments in contravention of the State Financial Rules. “The issue was highlighted in previous years Audit Reports also but remedial action has not been initiated”, the CAG has mentioned in the report.
About the Budget projection and gap between expectation and actual, it has been pointed out that the total provisions for expenditure during 2019-20 (April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019) was Rs 48,248 crore but the actual expenditure during the year was Rs 50,459 crore and this resulted in excess expenditure of Rs 2219.95 crore in 2019-20, the CAG said.
“The expenditure control mechanism of the J&K Government was not effective, as overall utilization of budget was 4.58 per cent over and above the total amount of grants and appropriations during the period between April 1, 2019 and October 30, 2019″, the audit body said, adding “Budgetary allocations were based on unrealistic proposals as out of total 36 grants, in six grants savings were more than Rs 100 crore. In four cases, persistent savings of more than Rs one crore in each case and also by ten per cent or more of the total grant, were noticed in one grant in Revenue (Voted) section and three grants in Capital (Voted) section, during the last five years”.
The CAG has stressed that the excess expenditure of Rs 2,210.95 crore during 2019-20 (April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019) is required to be regularized under the relevant laws, rules and regulations.
It has also been brought to the fore that against the available provision of Rs 32,296.17 crore under the Voted section, expenditure of Rs 31,399.74 crore was incurred, resulting into saving of Rs 896.43 crore whereas, against the provision of Rs 15,952.54 crore under the charged section, expenditure of Rs 19,059.92 crore was made resulting into excess expenditure of Rs 3,107.38 crore during the period between April 1, 2019 and October 30, 2019.
“Excess expenditure amounting to Rs 5,311.53 crore over the authorization vitiates the system of budgetary and financial control. The excess expenditure is required to be got regularized”, the CAG said, adding in the Finance Department, there was persistent excess expenditure ranging between Rs 1,489.47 crore and Rs 4,652.20 crore during the period 2015-16 to 2019-20 (April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019).
It has further been detected that in 92 schemes/Sub Heads involving 23 Grants, an amount of Rs 3,254.08 crore was incurred without Budgetary Provisions between April 1, 2019 and October 30, 2019. The review of Health & Medical Education Department revealed that against budget/appropriation of Rs 2,277.06 crore under the Grant, an expenditure of Rs 2,093.52 crore was made resulting into saving of Rs 183.54 crore.
“This showed that budget estimates were made either unrealistically or department did not disburse the amount during the period and also the savings were not surrendered. Further, in contravention to the provisions of Constitution of erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir, an amount of Rs 144.52 crore was incurred in 15 cases without Budgetary Provisions during the same period”, the CAG said.
During review of Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation Department, it came to the fore that against total allocation of Rs 294.27 crore under the Grant, an expenditure of Rs 677.95 crore was booked and an amount of Rs 383.68 crore was spent over and above the budgetary provisions in contravention to the provisions of Constitution of erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir.
The supreme audit institution has recommended that Budget may be formulated on the basis of reliable assumptions of implementation along with ensuring proper monitoring of budget to ensure that savings are curtailed, large savings within the Grant/Appropriation are controlled and anticipated savings are identified and surrendered within the specified timeframe and excess expenditure over grants may be regularized at the earliest.
“The Controlling Officers need to be made aware of their responsibility to explain the variation in expenditure from the allocation to facilitate proper analysis of budget and preparation of meaningful Appropriation Accounts”, the report said.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
