GUWAHATI, April 7 - The CAG report, which was tabled in the Assam Assembly yesterday, rapped the State government over its unauthorized and irregular expenditure incurred by various departments.
�The expenditure so incurred by the respective departments was unauthorized, irregular and against the spirit of financial regulations,� it noted.
The CAG detected excess expenditure of Rs 10,004.29 crore, which it said required regularization under Article 205 of the Constitution of India. Article 205 makes it mandatory for the State government to get the excess over a grant/appropriation regularized by the State Legislature.
In five cases under five different grants during 2016-17, expenditure of Rs 3,826.93 crore exceeded the approved provision by Rs 1,348.44 crore and also by more than 20 per cent of the total provision, the report added.
�According to Chapter 8 (Paragraph 8.3) of the Assam Budget manual, expenditure should not be incurred on a scheme/service without provision of funds. The audit, however, noticed that expenditure of Rs 3,334.38 crore was incurred in 53 cases without any provision in the original estimates/supplementary demand and without issue of any re-appropriation orders(s) to that effect,� the report stated.
�The cases of excess expenditure over grants are serious matter and are in violation of the wishes of the Legislature. It is important that responsibility is fixed in this regard to discourage this practice,� it said.
In another instance, it was detected that supplementary provision aggregating Rs 2,632.86 crore was obtained in 63 cases amounting to Rs 10 lakh or more in each case during the year 2016-17. �This proved unnecessary as the expenditure under the respective heads was even less than the original budget provision...� it said.
