Govt fails to submit 215 UCs amounting to Rs 1765 crore

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 19, 2022

Over 215 utilization certificates (UCs) amounting to Rs 1765.86 crore have not been submitted by the concerned departments of the state government.

“It was seen that at the close of March 2021, 215 UCs amounting to Rs 1765.86 crore remained outstanding in the books of the Accountant General (Accounts & Entitlement), Meghalaya,” the CAG in its report said.

It said that major defaulting departments which have not submitted UCs and their percentage out of total outstanding amount under Grants-in-Aid are Secretariat Economic Services (Rs 609.91 crore, 34.54 %), Rural Employment (Rs 502.21 crore, 28.44%), Rural Development (Rs 423.11 crore, 23.96%) and Welfare of SCs/STs and other Backward classes (Rs 115.30, 6.53%).

Non submission of UCs means that the authorities have not explained how funds were spent over the years.

There is also no assurance that the intended objectives of providing these funds have been achieved. This assumes greater importance if such UCs are pending against Grants-in-Aid meant for capital expenditure.

The CAG said in the absence of UCs, it could not be ascertained whether the recipients had utilized the grants for the purposes for which these were disbursed. Further, it is likely that the funds received were not spent and were being held in the bank accounts of the respective departments.

For example, it has been observed that the public works department had a savings of Rs 479.12 crore (25.35%) during 2020-21, out of which Rs 515.79 crore received was on account of grants-in-aid for CSS (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna).

In the absence of UCs being submitted by the department it is impossible to gauge the implementation status of the scheme for which funds have been received.

“Since huge pendency in submission of UCs is fraught with the risk of fraud and misappropriation of funds, it is imperative that the state government should monitor this aspect closely and not only hold the concerned persons accountable for submission of UCs in a timely manner but review disbursement of further Grants to defaulting departments,” the CAG said.