VIJAYAWADA: The High Court on Monday said it is appreciable that the State government had spent Rs 60,000 crore on welfare schemes in the last financial year and observed that going by the massive scale of welfare schemes being implemented, the economic condition of the State does not seem to be in a bad shape. Hearing a petition filed by two contractors against the delay in payment of bills, High Court Justice Battu Devanand said the government’s Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS) has shortcomings, which is leading to the problems.
A contractor from Chittoor, CK Erram Reddy, approached the court against the delay in release of payment of Rs 24.41 lakh for the works made by him in 2018 and 2019. Another contractor from East Godavari, R Srinivasa Rao, filed a petition seeking release of Rs 26.39 lakh pending bills.
Earlier, the government pleader had said the government does not have funds to make the payments. Justice Devanand asked panchayat raj commissioner Gopal Krishna Dwivedi and principal secretary SS Rawat to appear before it along with the details of the financial situation of the State on Monday. Rawat said that the bills were paid and there was a delay in making the payments due to technical issues.When Justice Devanand asked, the government said it had spent Rs 60,000 crore on welfare schemes in the last fiscal.
Justice Devanand said it is appreciable that the government had spent such a huge amount on welfare and said that there were reports that some employees were not getting salaries on time due to the shortcomings in the CFMS. This kind of shortcomings are giving scope to blame the Chief Minister, Justice Devanand said.Advocate General S Sriram informed the court that he would personally speak with the officials to rectify the shortcomings and sought time for the same. The government is making plans to pay the bills of MGNREGS where there are no disputes. The case was posted for further hearing after two weeks.