Ranchi: The financial health of the state government continues to be a cause for concern despite an increase in revenue receipts in 2016-17, a report tabled by the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) in the Assembly on Friday indicated.
Total revenue receipts during the financial year ended March 2017 rose 15.8 per cent to Rs 47,054 crore from Rs 40,638 crore a year ago, state accountant-general (audit) C.M. Singh told the media at his Doranda office on Friday evening.
"The primary deficit of the state, however, increased from Rs 1,015 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 6,020 crore during 2016-17, indicating that non-debt receipts were not sufficient to meet the government's primary expenditure," he said.
The audit of appropriation accounts revealed that the finance department failed to ensure timely surrender of funds that could be re-appropriated by other departments, the report pointed out, adding only Rs 1,517.94 crore out of total savings of Rs 13,057.61 crore was actually available for such re-appropriation.
The report also detected heavy expenditure by the government at the end of the financial year.
Out of the total expenditure of Rs 9,977.08 crore under 29 account heads, 69.82 per cent was spent in the last quarter of the fiscal. Of this, 39.80 per cent was spent in March 2017 alone.
The practice of submitting detailed contingency (DC) bills duly supported by vouchers against withdrawal of funds on abstract contingency (AC) bills was violated during 2016-17.
At the end of March 2017, DC bills for 9,503 AC bills that accounted for Rs 5,651 crore were outstanding, the report pointed out.
Utilisation certificates of Rs 29,449.52 crore against grants-in-aid bills drawn up to 2015-16 were not submitted till March 31, 2017, the report stated, adding it indicated the failure of departmental officials to comply with the rules to ensure timely utilisation of grants for the intended purpose.
The CAG, however, praised the efficiency of the state government in collecting taxes from sales and trade.
Mining receipts received by the Jharkhand government were also higher than the neighbouring states.
