Edu, H&UD, Agri, H&FW, Tourism major defaulting deptts
Slackness in furnishing huge DC Bills to AG detected
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 10: The successive Governments in Jammu and Kashmir were not strictly adhering to the Financial Code as a result of which Utilization Certificates (UCs) amounting to Rs 9354.49 crore were outstanding till October 2019. Moreover, there was complete slackness in furnishing of Detailed Contingent Bills to the Accountant General for audit.
This has been pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report on State Finance for the period April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019 released recently and the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
In terms of provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Financial Code, in cases in which conditions are attached to the utilization of a grant in the form of a specification of a particular object of expenditure or the time within which the money must be spent or otherwise, the departmental officer on whose signature or countersignature the Grants-in-Aid (GIA) Bills are drawn is primarily responsible for certifying to the Accountant General, where necessary, the fulfillment of the conditions attached to the grant, unless there is any special rule or order to the contrary.
The certificate is required to be furnished within 18 months from the date of sanction of the grant in such form as may be agreed between the Accountant General and the Head of the Department concerned. Moreover, Grants-in-Aid Bills are required to be drawn on Form F.C 40 of J&K Financial Code but in number of the cases, the successive Governments were not using the prescribed Form and instead same Bill Form was being used for ACs and GIAs which results in difficulty in distinguishing between AC Bills and GIA Bills.
As per the CAG, there were 2,029 Utilization Certificates amounting to Rs 9354.49 crore outstanding as on October 30, 2019 for the grants released up to April 30, 2018. A total of 1370 UCs amounting to Rs 5972.99 crore were pending for submission at the end of 2017-18 financial year and this number increased to 1773 UCs amounting to Rs 8191.08 crore at the end of 2018-19 financial year. The number further increased to 2029 UCs amounting to Rs 9354.49 crore up to October 30, 2019.
As per the year-wise break-up, 304 UCs worth Rs 929.90 crore were pending during 2014-15; 234 UCs amounting to Rs 723.27 during 2015-16; 329 UCs amounting to Rs 1770.94 crore were pending during 2016-17; Rs 2549.25 crore worth UCs during 2017-18, Rs 2219.48 crore worth UCs were pending during 2018-19 and Rs 1161.65 crore worth UCs up to October 30, 2019.
“These figures clearly indicate that UCs were outstanding for many years and out of 2029 UCs outstanding as on October 30, 2019, 304 UCs (15%) were pending since the year 2014-15”, the CAG has pointed out, adding “86.63% of the total amount of the outstanding UCs pertained to five departments—-Education (Rs 5419 crore), Housing and Urban Development (Rs 1137.64 crore), Agriculture (Rs 707.08 crore), Health and Family Welfare (Rs 585.55 crore) and Tourism (Rs 254.88 crore).
“Non-submission of the UCs means that the authorities have not explained as to how funds were spent over the years. There is also no assurance that the intended objectives of providing these funds have been achieved”, the CAG said, adding “this assumes greater importance if such UCs are pending against Grants-in-Aid meant for capital expenditure”.
“Since non-submission of UCs is fraught with the risk of misappropriation, it is imperative that the J&K Government should monitor this aspect closely and hold the concerned persons accountable for submission of UCs in a timely manner”, the supreme audit institution of the country has stressed.
As per Jammu & Kashmir Financial Code, the bills which are countersigned after payment are drawn as advance payments on Abstract Contingent (AC) Bills. The subordinate officers are required to submit the Detailed Contingent Bill by the end of the month following that in which AC Bill is drawn to the Controlling Officer and the Controlling Officer is required to submit the same to the Accountant General within one month of its receipt.
However, in contravention there to, against a total amount of Rs 7,226.48 crore comprising 2,298 bills drawn on AC Bills by various Drawing and Disbursing Officers up to August 31, 2019, corresponding DC Bills were not submitted to the Accountant General Jammu & Kashmir, the CAG said.
“Out of 2,298 number of outstanding AC bills, 1,933 bills amounting to Rs 2,341.39 crore pertain to the period up to 2017-18, 249 bills amounting to Rs 2,651.13 crore pertain to 2018-19 and the balance 116 bills valuing Rs 2,233.96 crore pertain to the year 2019-20 (April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019)”, the report said, adding “there was no assurance that the expenditure of Rs 2,233.96 crore during April 1, 2019 to October 30, 2019 was actually incurred for the purpose for which it was authorized by the Legislature”.
Majority of the DC Bills were pending in respect of Education, Rural Development, Home, Revenue, Agriculture, Medical and Industries Departments. “Education Department and Rural Development Department are major defaulters and have pending DC Bills of maximum amount”, the CAG said.
According to the report, the matter was continuously brought to the notice of the Government/ Finance Department, from time to time. However, despite issuance of instructions in this regard by the Finance Department, the DDOs did not furnish the pending DC Bills to the Accountant General.
“Advances drawn and not accounted for increased the possibility of wastage, misappropriation, malfeasance, etc as such the Government may take necessary steps to ensure adjustment of the advances drawn on the contingent bills within the stipulated period as required under the rules”, the CAG has stressed.
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