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| Diversion of funds by previous FMs unconstitutional: Rather | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 18: Defending the concern of the Chief Minister expressed earlier in the House over the mismanagement of funds before the present Government took over, Finance Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather today described as "unconstitutional" any diversion of funds approved by the State Legislature.
In his 65-minute reply to the general discussions on the budget presented by him in the Legislative Assembly on March 12, the Finance Minister described the indiscretion of diverting funds from one demand for Grant to another, after such Demands were voted by the Legislators as "violative" of the constitutional provisions and the Budget Manual.
"Can any Finance Minister afford to do this?" he asked. He referred to the admissions made by Muzaffar Ahmad Beig during his speech regarding such diversions as dishonor to the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and to "this House".
"I do not know if Mr.Beig was speaking on his own behalf as the then Finance Minister or Mr. Qarra who followed in that position", he added. "It is the House which is supreme and not the Finance Minister", he observed while quoting from Articles 79 to 84 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and chapter 15th of Budget Manual which deal with the financial matters of the Government.
He elaborated by saying that prescribed re-appropriation of funds has been expressly under some situations mentioned in para 15.5 of the Budget Manual.
"As such, diversion of allocations from the Calamity Relief Fund to any other scheme resorted by the former Finance Ministers, as admitted by Beig himself was not warranted. When the present Government sanctioned relief of Rs 70 crore to the persons hit by the drought, it found that out of the allocated Rs 362 crore into the fund only Rs 80 crore had been spent on bonafide purposes and rest of the amount had been diverted, obviously to meet non-plan expenditure for in excess of the voted amount. Similarly, Rs 691 crore out of Prime Minister's Reconstruction Programme, were diverted for non-developmental purpose," he maintained.
Rather stated further that huge spending when made on procurement of power without making proper budgetary and financial arrangements to pay for the same. "This is certainly not a sign of good financial management", he observed.
He also made a mention of under estimating of concealing the actual fiscal deficit by the then Finance Ministers. He cited the actual figures of Financial Accounts prepared by CAG showing that against an estimated deficit of Rs 1569 crore in 2005-06, the Comptroller and Auditor General calculated the actual figures as Rs 2,644 crore. The actual figures of non-plan revenue expenditure were far in excess of the voted accounts.
Rather also dwelt in detail upon the growth of non-plan expenditure and stated that this was just Rs 6283 crore till 2002-03, 53 years after Independence. This figure included effect of implementation of five Pay Commission Reports. During the past six years, when no Pay Commission has been implemented, Rs 5451 core were added to non-plan spending, almost doubling such spending in a period of six years. "What type of financial management it was when the 12th Financial Commission has asked the State Government to pass the fiscal responsibility and Budgetary Management Act?", he asked.
Referring to the observation of the former Deputy Chief Minister, Muzaffar Hussain Beig, about diverting sum of about Rs 300 crore for meeting the pensionary needs, on account of under provision, the Finance Minister stated that the Government should have sought vote of the House after disclosing source of funding of this expenditure.
Regarding release of arrears on account of the 6th Pay Commission, the Finance Minister recalled the meeting held with the employees' unions on February 18, 2009 wherein it had been decided to approve revised pay scales to the employees with effect from July 1, 2009.
He said that the Government had made a commitment to pay the arrears, as and when the resources would become available. However, he said, the Cabinet Sub Committee shall be meeting the employees' leaders with an open mind on 19th of March to resolve the issue.
In this context, he quoted the relevant text from the 13th Finance Commission Report which makes it amply clear that no financial assistance has been recommended for payment of arrears, amounting to Rs 4200 crore in our case.
The Finance Minister announced that the Government would take all possible measures for supplementing the Corpus Fund created for unemployed youth under Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Programme for Youth. He said that the scheme, interalia, envisages providing of Voluntary Service Allowance to the defined category of youth who have registered themselves with the District Centres.
He said that various recruitment agencies like Public Service Commission, Service Selection Board and the Police Recruitments Board have made over 20,000 selections during the year 2009 and another 20,000 selections are likely to be made during the current year. The present Coalition Government, he said, is providing employment in the Government sector to one lakh educated unemployed during its full term.
The Finance Minister said that austerity measures have been initiated and they will continue. "There is need for stronger measures in this regard, which will be taken".
Rather announced that the Government will organize Handicraft Exhibitions of the world-renowned crafts of the State, in the Union Capital during this year's Commonwealth Games.
Rather expressed his gratitude to the Members for participating in the discussions and said that he would be open to their suggestions when they speak on the demand for grants of the departments under his charge. In all, 32 Members participated in the discussions.
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