In wake of the upcoming Budget Session in the Assembly, the AAP government has directed all its departments to submit their expenditure proposals requiring concurrence of the finance wing latest by March 23. The Kejriwal government has also decided to keep all its pay and accounts offices open on all Saturdays and Sundays from March 16 for quick clearance of bills of the current fiscal. The pay and accounts offices will, however, remain closed on March 24 and March 25 on account of Holi and Good Friday.
In his order, special secretary (finance) S.P. Singh said that rules clearly stipulate in unambiguous terms that rush of expenditure, particularly in the closing months of the financial year shall be regarded as a breach of financial propriety and shall also be avoided. It said that receipt of proposals at the fag end of the financial year leaves little time for the examination of the proposals.
The order said the departments and agencies do not have sufficient time to ensure proper utilisation of funds. “Inevitably, while departments seek revalidation of expenditure sanctions, local bodies / grantee institutions seek permission to utilise unspent balances in the subsequent financial year in respect of sanctions accorded in the previous financial year.” To avoid this situation, all departments have been advised that expenditure proposals requiring concurrence of the finance department should be submitted latest by March 23. Proposals received after this due date will now be considered in the next financial year, the order warned.
The AAP government, which has time and again been demanding additional annual budgetary allocation of '5,000 crore from the Centre, has itself been able to spend only 49.58 per cent of the total money it had allocated in its Budget for the current fiscal, till January 31. The Kejriwal government, which had allocated '41,129 crore for the current fiscal, had earmarked a sum of '19,000 crore for planned projects.
Of the planned funds, the AAP government till January 31 ended up spending just 46.38 per cent on education, 40.56 per cent on medical institutions and 61.81 per cent on public health. In all, the government was able to spend only 49.58 per cent of the total plan expenditure till January 31. A city bureaucrat said all the planned funds could not be exhausted as the AAP government was not “mindlessly spending” on projects. “We are holding people accountable for each and every penny. You can say we are saving the taxpayers’ money.”
In a serious bid to clear a large number of bills being presented by the pay and accounts offices on a daily basis, the AAP government has also ordered to keep all these offices open on Saturdays and Sundays. In a separate order, controller of accounts Prakash Chand said the bills for the current financial year would be accepted only up to 6 pm on March 31.
