CAG report questions Rs 94.36 crore spent without budgetary provision
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has raised questions on the state government spending Rs 94.36 crore without any budgetary provision during the financial year 2023-24.
The CAG report for 2023-24 was laid in the Vidhan Sabha today. A sum of Rs 27.85 crore was spent under one major head without a budgetary provision and Rs 66.51 crore was spent against re-appropriation of Rs 0.55 crore under four major heads, where no budgetary provisions were available.
An expenditure of Rs 94.36 crore made without budgetary provisions pertained to Forest and Wildlife, Industries and Minerals, Information Technology and Urban Development departments and the Town and Country Planning Department.
The funds were required to be obtained through supplementary budget estimates but it was not done. Re-appropriation without budgetary provisions was in contrary to the Budget Manual of Himachal Pradesh, the CAG report has stated.
The report mentions that the state government’s decision to revert to the old pension scheme (OPS) in 2023-24 would have additional financial impact in future. During the year, there was no transaction from the Contingency Fund, which had a balance of Rs 5 crore on March 31, 2024.
About the cash balance, the Himachal Government took overdraft on five days in 2023-24 to be able to maintain the minimum balance in the exchequer. The state government maintained a minimum balance in the treasury without taking any advance on 324 days while on 36 days, the minimum balance was maintained by taking advances and loans.
In 2023-24, Himachal received Rs 39,173.05 crore grants from the Central Government as compared to Rs 38,089.51 crore in 2022-23. This included Rs 5,328.69 crore received under various centrally-sponsored schemes and Rs 8,738.16 as grant from the Finance Commission.
During 2023-24, the state government collected various cess amounting to Rs 182.40 crore, including a milk cess of Rs 144.84 crore, cess on taxes of Rs 37.42 crore, Covid cess of Rs 0.12 crore and Rs 0.02 crore total cess on land.
The government notified reversion to the OPS from April 1, 2023, and 114,544 employees opted for it while 1,364 staff remained under the new pension scheme (NPS) on July 1, 2024.
