CAG flags massive backlog as PSUs, Councils fail to submit 485 annual accounts
Over 6,300 utilization certificates worth Rs 18,699 crore also remain unsubmitted, prompting calls for urgent corrective action.
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Guwahati, Dec 2: State public sector undertakings (PSUs) and autonomous councils are shying away from submitting their annual accounts for audit, inviting the ire of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), who maintained that in the absence of annual accounts and their audit, proper utilization of the grants and loans disbursed to the bodies and their accounting cannot be vouched.
The CAG has not received 485 annual accounts of 75 autonomous councils, development councils and government bodies (due up to 2023-24) for audit as of September 2024.
Of the 485 outstanding accounts, nine pertain to three autonomous district councils created under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
As many as 106 annual accounts, which were not received by the CAG, are more than 10 years old, and another 136 are around 5-10 years old.
More than 350 pending annual accounts belong to the Welfare of Tribal Affairs (Plain) department.
"Audit took up the matter of non-submission of accounts of the defaulting bodies with authorities concerned from time to time, but without perceivable improvement," the CAG report noted.
The CAG has also not received 245 annual accounts of 39 PSUs (due up to 2023-24) for audit as of September 2024.
Of them, 60 pending accounts are more than 10 years old, 57 are 5-10 years old and 35 are 3-5 years old. Nearly 95 pending annual accounts pertain to the Industries & Commerce department, while 26 relate to Minority Development and 21 are from Soil Conservation.
"The administrative departments concerned have the responsibility to oversee the activities of these entities and to ensure that the accounts of the State PSUS under their control are finalized and adopted within the stipulated period.
The heads of departments in the government are to ensure that the departmental undertakings prepare such accounts and submit the same to the accountant general (audit) within a specified time frame," the CAG stated.
Audit scrutiny also showed that 6,335 utilization certificates in respect of grants aggregating to more than Rs 18,699 crore given to 50 State government departments during the period 2005-06 to 2022-23 have not been submitted.
The CAG recommended the government to draw up a concrete plan to clear arrears in Accounts of persistently defaulting autonomous district councils and other bodies.