Over 9,000 Utilisation Certificates of various projects and schemes of 52 departments of the Assam government from 2001-02 to 2018-19 have not been submitted, a CAG report said. More than 68 per cent of the 9,379 outstanding UCs are of the last four years since 2015-16, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in its report on state finances, under the section of 'Quality of Accounts & Financial Reporting Practices'.
The amount against which UCs are still pending comes to Rs 20,402.48 crore, it said. At least 1,345 UCs amounting to Rs 7,197.84 crore are due for the 2018-19 fiscal, while 24 such documents worth Rs 1,607.23 crore in 2016-17 have not been submitted, according to the report which was tabled in the assembly on Friday.
Utilisation Certificates of Rs 3,494.38 crore grants paid up to the financial year 2018-19 are pending from the health department, followed by the Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes with UCs worth Rs 2,403.51 crore. UCs help rule out misappropriation of grants and frauds.
"About 50 per cent of capital expenditure is being incurred out of grants-in-aid. In the absence of UCs, it could not be ascertained whether the recipients had utilised the grants for the purpose for which those were given, and the assets had been created,” the CAG report said. It also said the state government has given grants-in-aid of Rs 18,032.66 crore during the 2018-19 fiscal under ‘Others’ head, which constituted 70.39 per cent of the total assistance given in the year.
During the 2019-20 fiscal, the state government incurred an expenditure of Rs 19,036.52 crore under 'Minor Head 800', constituting 23.76 per cent of the total revenue and capital expenditure. “Indiscriminate operation of omnibus Minor Head 800 – Other Expenditure affected transparency in financial reporting and obscured proper analysis of allocative priorities and quality of expenditure,” the report stated.
If such instances occur on a regular basis, it is the responsibility of the state government to seek advice from the Accountant General (A&E) on an appropriate classification, it said. The CAG said it had not received 704 annual accounts of 138 autonomous councils and government bodies for audit as on December 31, 2020.
It recommended a rigorous monitoring mechanism by the state government to ensure that the departments comply with prescribed rules and procedures for submission of UCs. The CAG also suggested strengthening of the internal control mechanism and ensuring that officers reconcile their figures of receipts and expenditure at prescribed intervals.
-With PTI Inputs
