CAG points at errors in budget documents

THE CAG REPORT MENTIONED TWO SCHEMES — INTEREST FOR THE NEW PENSION SCHEME AND TRANSFER OF INTEREST CAMPA FUND

DEHRADUN: A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on Finance Accounts of the Government of Uttarakhand for the year ended March 31, 2023, said there was discrepancy in the depiction of budget provisions in the Budget documents of the state government for year 2022-23.

The 58-page report, tabled in the state assembly on the third day of the ongoing state assembly, said the budget documents of the state government for the year 2022-23 did not depict the budget provision and correct classification of expenditure for two schemes.

A budget provision of ₹170 crore was made in the budget 2022-23 for these two schemes.

The two schemes — interest for the new pension scheme (₹20 crore), and transfer of interest CAMPA fund (₹150 crore) — were depicted under the wrong account heads.

It further said the matter has been taken up with the state government for necessary corinstead rections in the budget documents for the year 2023-24.

The report also said during 2022-23, the state government provided budget provisions under seven unauthorized submajor heads and two minor heads under the revenue section and four heads under the capital section.

The CAG report also said that there was “misclassification of revenue and capital expenditure in the budget documents”.

“During the year 2022-23, the Government of Uttarakhand incorrectly booked expenditure of ₹14.71 crore (major works) and ₹0.52 crore (land purchase) under Revenue Section of Capital Section as has been determined from the purpose of expenditure. This led to overstatement of Revenue Expenditure,” the report mentioned.

The report during the year 2022-23, the State GST collection was ₹7,340.64 crore compared to ₹5,973.36 crore in 2021-22, registering an increase of ₹ 1,367.28 crore (22.89%).

“This includes Advance Apportionment of IGST amounted to ₹295.89 crore. In addition, the State received ₹3,000.03 crore as its share of net proceeds assigned to the State under Central Goods and Services Tax,” the report stated.

“The total receipts under GST were ₹10,340.67 crore. The State received compensation of ₹2,135.61 crore as Revenue receipt on account of loss of revenue arising out of implementation of GST during 2022-23. During the year 2022-23, there was no difference between the RBI’s figures and figures booked in the Finance Accounts for State GST,” the CAG report further mentioned.