AMARAVATI: The Finance Department of Andhra Pradesh has begun a damage control exercise after the Comptroller and Auditor General exposed several lacunae in the state's financial management.
First, it was the violation of codal provisions related to bill payments, amounting to Rs 41,000 crore, that the Principal Accountant General had found fault with.
Next, the PAG had also pointed out to several inappropriate orders relating to re-appropriation of budgetary funds in the 2020-21 financial years.
Though the state Principal Finance Secretary S S Rawat replied to the PAG's May 4 letter on bill payments, the PAG was said to have expressed dissatisfaction over it as there was nothing to prove there was "proper authorization" for the payments made, official sources here said.
The state government authorities, including the Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath, blamed it on "software glitches" in the CFMS (Comprehensive Financial Management System) and maintained that there was nothing amiss with the payments.
Even as this issue remained unsettled, the PAG sent another missive to the Finance Department, stating that during the year 2020-21, a total of 143 re-appropriation orders were found to have been uploaded in CFMS, none of which contained "remarksreasons" for such re-appropriation.
"This will hamper the finalization of appropriation accounts adversely," the PAG had said.
The Finance Department has now sent a missive to all other departments, asking them to explain the reasons for the re-appropriation (of funds).
"The proposals for re-appropriation of funds are sometimes received in this department without clear reasons and justification," Finance Secretary (Budget and Institutional Finance) K V V Satyanarayana said in a memo circulated to all departments last week.
In pursuance of the provisions of Chapter 17 of the AP Budget Manual, the reasons for additional appropriation and savings should be explained clearly and fully while issuing orders for re-appropriation, he said.
Though the exact number is not known, sources in the Finance Department pointed out that the amount involved in improper re-appropriation could run into hundreds of crores of rupees.
"All this reflects very poorly, not only in the Budget books, but also on the overall fiscal management process. CAG scrutinizes such things meticulously and there can be no escape if anything is erroneous," a senior finance official remarked.