With the Supreme Court and the Election Commission taking steps to taunt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Rewari culture” amid the talk on untouchability, now the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) can be weighing in.
The CAG is exploring how one can create parameters that “red flag” the burden of subsidies, off-budget borrowings, exemptions and write-offs that may pose challenges to the states’ financial system, Indian Express has realized.
Sources stated the problem of “financial stability” of states got here up through the CAG’s Audit Advisory Board (AAB) assembly earlier this week.
The board, headed by CAG Girish Chandra Murmu, gives “suggestions” to the physique on issues regarding the audit “including audit, coverage, scope and priority of the audit”.
The 21-member board, headed by Murmu, has 10 exterior members: Ashok Gulati, agricultural economist; Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairman and Executive Director, Narayana Health; HK Das, retired IAS officer; Makarand R. Paranjpe, Educationist; Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, Team Lease Services; Maroof Raza, retired Indian Army officer; Nitin Desai, Partner, TERI; Ravindra H. Dholakia, Economist; Suresh N Patel, Central Vigilance Commissioner; and SM Vijayananda, retired IAS officer.
On the heels of EC Note for events
The CAG’s suggestion comes after the Election Commission requested political events to recommend methods and means to mobilize extra assets to meet their guarantees and their monetary ramifications. To this impact, it prescribed a standardized disclosure proforma. The Supreme Court can be listening to petitions given freed from value.
Arguing that the majority states have develop into “revenue deficit” after the pandemic, sources stated the assembly mentioned how such states are unable to handle their expenditure from their income assets.
The apex audit physique can be wanting into the reimbursement liabilities of the states over the following six years. “We have seen that in most states there will be a real issue – repayment. Whatever they have borrowed before, the burden of repayment is so much that half of their budget, in many places, will go towards repaying only. It is not sustainable,” stated a supply.
The CAG has been highlighting points associated to subsidies and different expenditure within the state budgets, however within the proposed mechanism it’s going to additionally give attention to off-budget borrowings, waivers and write-offs.
Sources stated the audit physique has compiled “relative position of loans, borrowings, subsidies – whether they are free or not – guarantees, and their sustainability”.
“We are going very strictly from the current year… we are saying it is not sustainable,” the supply stated. Whatever you’re doing, your monetary administration will go awry. You won’t be able to keep up it and the state can be in bother. ,
Audit authorities, at current, give attention to subsidies, however don’t embrace exemptions and exemptions subsidies.
For instance, curiosity subvention on loans, cash given to discoms, mortgage waiver are among the parts that the CAG has captured “sometimes but not systematically”, stated an official.
It was additionally advised to contemplate the class of freebies on provide within the assembly. The supply stated, “States are distributing issues like TVs, laptops, cycles, grinders, mixers. There are issues which aren’t mirrored within the subsidy. Also the monetary assets of the states had been mentioned.
When requested what are the choices with the CAG, the supply stated, “We plan to point out a purple flag. We are strengthening our feedback every so often and following the submission of this Audit Advisory Board, we are going to see what extra we are able to do.
“Around 80 per cent of the accounts for FY 2022-23 have been completed,” stated a supply. “So we’ll see what we can do at this stage.”
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
