NT Reporter
Panaji
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India report has exposed a gap in financial accountability of Goa’s state machinery, with 12,813 utilisation certificates (UCs) related to grants worth Rs 3,027.52 crore not yet submitted by 31 government departments to the accounts department as of March 31, 2024, raising serious questions about proper utilisation of the public funds.
The CAG report on State Finances for 2023-24 has revealed deficiencies in monitoring and follow-up mechanisms of the government grants, with the CAG warning that without submission of these crucial certificates, there is no assurance that the disbursed money has been used by the departments for the intended purpose.
A total number of 1,458 utilisation certificates from the year 2021-22 worth Rs 655.35 crore are yet to be submitted by the departments, while 1,714 such UCs of 2022-23 against Rs 628.43 crore are also pending submission. Interestingly, a total of 5,243 UCs linked to Rs 549.65 crore dating back to 2013-14 and earlier period remain unaccounted for.
According to the data, 687 UCs of 2017-18 worth Rs 294.57 crore are yet to be complied with, while grants related to 2018-19 and 2019-20 have 859 pending UCs worth Rs 121.36 crore and 756 such UCs related to Rs 154.06 crore, respectively.
The number of such utilisation certificates from 2020-21 is 695 with a grant amount of Rs 379.29 crore involved.
Directorate of Panchayats (North) has emerged as the worst performer, accounting for non-compliance of UCs worth Rs 889.34 crore. Department of Municipal Administration follows with Rs 600.57 crore linked to the UCs not yet submitted, while the Public Works Department shows Rs 480.07 crore as related to the UCs yet to be submitted. The Science and Technology Department has Rs 216.13 crore linked to the UCs pending submission, Education Department (Rs 185.94 crore), Panchayats (South) (Rs 161.28 crore) and Art and Culture (Rs 139.89 crore).
An Utilisation Certificate is a document submitted by a recipient organisation to confirm that funds provided by the government or funding agency have been used for the intended purpose as per the guidelines.
According to Rule 238 of General Financial Rules 2017, utilisation certificates must be obtained by the departmental officers from grantees after verification, and the same must be forwarded to the Directorate of Accounts within a year of sanction. However, the audit has exposed non-compliance with these mandatory provisions.
A scrutiny of some offices revealed administrative failures, with the auditors finding that in the Directorate of Panchayats (South), the Deputy Director had 3,552 UCs pending submission worth Rs 161.28 crore. The auditors found that neither the grant records were updated nor the UCs received from village panchayats were being monitored.
At the Principal Chief Engineer’s office at Altinho in Panaji, the auditors discovered that no register of grants was being maintained to record disbursals. The office had 98 pending UCs against grants of Rs 480.07 crore disbursed till 2022-23, and officials could not produce any progressive record of the UCs yet to be submitted.
