KOLKATA: At a time when West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has expressed concern over alleged fiscal irregularities, the state Finance Department has earned the appreciation of the office of the CAG for achieving 99.62 per cent expenditure reconciliation and 100 per cent receipt reconciliation of its transactions for the 2019-20 fiscal.
In a recent communication to the department, CAG Accountant General (Administration) and ITSM, Rahul Kumar, said the feat "was possible due to your active involvement in the entire process, which has also been appreciated by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India".
"I am pleased to inform (you) that for the first time this office has achieved 99.62 per cent expenditure reconciliation and 100 per cent receipt reconciliation of the departmental transactions for the year 2019-20 through the login facility available in this office website," Kumar wrote in his letter to the additional chief secretary of the state Finance Department.
"This will definitely ensure correct and complete depiction of the receipts and expenditure figures in the finance accounts of the Government of West Bengal," the official wrote.
The letter also gave a proposal to initiate a quarterly reconciliation process and instruct all the departmental offices to complete the reconciliation process at the earliest for the first quarter of the current fiscal.
"Now, for the reconciliation of the current fiscal year, it is proposed to initiate a quarterly reconciliation process. Accordingly, the receipts and expenditure figures for the first quarter of 2020-21 have already been uploaded on the website under the departmental login. Please instruct all the departmental office(s) to complete the reconciliation process at (an) early date," the letter read.
The official also urged the department to disclose two sets of information -- one for "loans and advance given by the government" and the other for "investment made by the government" -- in two separate statements.
"However, currently both the statements are limited in true and fair depiction to the extent of information that is awaited from the departmental offices. To address the issue, this office has developed two separate modules in departmental login where departmental officers can upload the terms and conditions of the loan and investment details," he wrote, directing to upload the same for the 2019-20 fiscal by September 30.