New Delhi: Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta on Friday referred four reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to the Public Accounts Committee for a detailed examination.
Gupta said the PAC should present its report on the CAG’s findings by the next session of the Legislative Assembly.
“The Assembly Secretariat is directed to forward these reports immediately to the concerned departments so that they may submit action-taken notes to the Public Accounts Committee,” he said.
The four CAG reports were tabled in the House on August 4.
The report on the Appropriation Accounts reveals that during the year 2023–2024, an amount of Rs 15,327 crore remained unspent, of which Rs 8,376.40 crore lapsed due to a delay in surrender. This amount could have been utilised for essential developmental works, said the Speaker.
In the Finance Accounts for 2023-2024, the CAG observed that government departments failed to submit Abstract Contingent Bills, resulting in Rs 346.82 crore remaining outstanding.
This means there was no way to confirm whether the funds were actually spent in accordance with the authorisation of the Legislative Assembly. In 2022–2023, this amount was Rs 574.89 crore. The CAG also expressed concern over the non-submission of utilisation certificates for Rs 3,760.84 crore as on March 31, 2024, he said.
A study of the State Finances report for 2023–2024 shows that the revenue surplus declined from Rs 14,457 crore in 2022–2023 to Rs 6,462 crore in 2023–2024. If the Government of India had not borne Rs 11,123 crore towards pension liabilities and Delhi Police expenditure, the surplus would have turned into a revenue deficit, said Gupta.
From 2019–2020 to 2023–2024, capital expenditure has consistently remained below the capital budget. The fiscal deficit has increased from Rs 416 crore in 2019–2020 to Rs 3,934 crore in 2023–2024, he said.
The CAG’s report on the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board also points to several serious irregularities. The then Delhi Government did not have reliable data regarding the number of such workers, said the Speaker.
Out of 6.96 lakh registered workers, the department maintained a database of only 1.98 lakh workers. Several deficiencies were found in the registration process, such as duplicate images and multiple registrations. Astonishingly, 1.19 lakh beneficiaries were linked to 2.38 lakh images, he said.
Only 7.3 per cent of registrations were renewed against the national average of 74 per cent. There was a discrepancy of Rs 204.95 crore between the cess collection records and those available with the districts and the Board.
The Board was able to disburse only around 9.53 per cent to 11 per cent of the total cess collected as benefits. No steps were taken for the welfare of workers, and the department failed to conduct any social audit.
“As per the Rules of Procedure, the Public Accounts Committee will examine these reports in detail,” said the Speaker.
(IANS)
