BHUBANESWAR: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has taken exception to the supplementary budgets of the government, describing the practice as unnecessary as the expenditure did not even reach the threshold of the original provision. The auditor maintained this indicated significant errors in the accurate estimation of the budget.
The state finances audit report of the CAG for the year ending March 2022 stated that the supplementary grants of Rs 9,742.06 crore, nearly 50 per cent of the total supplementary grants were entirely unnecessary in 43 cases. It found that most of the departments had not exhausted provisions made in the 2020-21 budget, but allocations were made for them in the supplementary budget.
The budgetary allocation for the School and Mass Education department was Rs 17,525.60 crore out of which Rs 16,397.84 crore was spent by the end of the financial year. But a supplementary provision of Rs 1,580.73 crore was made for the department. Similarly, a budgetary provision of Rs 18,201.48 crore was made for the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department out of which Rs 14,524.26 crore was spent. But again supplementary provision of Rs 3,615.64 crore was made for the department.
The CAG said this practice resulted in savings of Rs 37,706.59 crore during 2021-22 out of which Rs 37,608.04 crore was surrendered. Out of that, Rs 35,600.04 crore was surrendered on the last day of the year on March 31, 2022. The government stated that many times funds as indicated in the Union budget are not released to the state, leading to the surrender of funds.
In some of the Centrally-sponsored schemes, funds are released by the Centre very late in the year with limited scope for expenditure. Besides, provision taken against a scheme is also surrendered due to delay in appraisal and approval. This situation also leads to the surrender of funds, it stated. However, the CAG was not convinced by the reply of the government stating that the surrender of funds did not take place only in the case of CSS.