The Meghalaya government has reported an excess expenditure of Rs 3,439.41 crore over the authorisation given by the State Assembly under seven grants and one non-grant.
This was revealed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report on the Finance Accounts and Appropriation Accounts for the year 2022-23, relating to the State government which was tabled in the State Assembly today.
As far as the Appropriation Accounts are concerned, the CAG said that the excess expenditure was mainly under grants relating to Power (Rs 382.57 crore), Pension (Rs 203.62 crore), Sports (Rs 49.03 crore) and non-grant Public Debt (Rs 2,786.56 crore).
Further, there was an expenditure of Rs 804.75 crore (Revenue Rs 24.40 crore, Capital Rs 780.36 crore) incurred without original provisions/supplementary/re-appropriation in 12 sub-heads, five grants and one non-grant.
The Appropriation Accounts depict the expenditure of the State government against amounts ‘Charged’ on the Consolidated Fund or ‘Voted’ by the State Assembly. There are four combined grants of both charged and voted, six charged appropriations and 56 voted grants.
At the end of the year 2022-23, the actual expenditure of the Government of Meghalaya against the budget approved by the Assembly showed a net saving of Rs 532 crore (2.43 per cent of Revised Estimate of Rs 21,926 crore).
Certain grants, like those relating to Administration of Medical and Public Health and Family Welfare Services, Administration of Agriculture and allied services, Administration of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department showed substantial savings.
As far as the Finance Accounts is concerned, out of Rs 17,641 crore receipts reported in the Finance Accounts for the year 2022-23 the major components received by Meghalaya were Rs 9,937 crore as tax revenue, Rs 4,426 crore as grants in aid and Rs 2,796 crore as borrowings and other liabilities.
The bulk of the expenditure for the year 2022-23 consisted of revenue expenditure of Rs 14,864 crore followed by capital expenditure of Rs 2,742 crore.
Finance Accounts depict the receipts and disbursements of the State government for the year, together with the financial results disclosed by the revenue and capital accounts, public debt and public account balances recorded in the accounts.
The Finance Accounts have been issued in two volumes, to make them more comprehensive and informative. Volume I of the Finance Accounts contains the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, summarised statements of overall receipts and disbursements and ‘Notes to Finance Accounts’ containing a summary of significant accounting policies, quality of accounts and other items. Volume II contains detailed statements (Part-I) and appendices (Part -II).
