The comptroller and auditor general (CAG)’s report on state finances for 2011-12 tabled in the Assembly on Tuesday has ensured that the controversy over non-submission of detailed contingent (DC) bills lingers on.
The report put the figure at Rs 18,797 crore on August 31, 2011.
The issue cropped up in 2010, when the Opposition charged the Nitish government with drawing huge amounts through abstract contingent (AC) bills. The report has questioned the claim of ending March loot, pointing that the withdrawal of funds through AC bills every March from 2007-08 to 2011-12 has varied between 29 per cent and 54 per cent of the total amount withdrawn during the years. The report has maintained: “Withdrawal of funds in the month of March without expenditure is indicative of fiscal indiscipline.”
Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi has declared that the latest figures are much improved than as on August 31, 2011. “The total amount for non-submitted DC bills as on April 1, 2013 stands at just Rs 5,451 crore. We have already submitted DC bills worth Rs 20,753 crore to the accountant general,” he said.
He also spoke on CAG’s reservation on the non-submission of utilisation certificates to the tune of Rs 7,837 crore. “We will hold special camps to get the utilisation certificates. However, our staff committed clerical errors. Utilisation certificates are given in case of grants. Our staff included funds which were not grants. We will take measures to rectify them,” he said.
Despite Modi’s clarification, the Opposition demanded a CBI probe. “It’s not only non-submission of DC bills that indicates financial irregularities. By taking samples from just seven departments in 13 districts, CAG has indicated misappropriation, defalcations and fraudulent payment in 17 cases amounting to Rs 3.58 crore. A CBI probe should be ordered,” said Siddiqui.
The CAG report has questioned some of the most-flaunted programmes of the government, the rehabilitation of the 2008 Kosi deluge victims.
“We will consider the recommendations made by CAG,” said Modi.
