Govt failed to spend Rs 23K cr in 2013-14 budget, says CAG

 The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found that the State government had failed to spend Rs 23,149.75 crore in its 2013-14 budget.

In its report on the State finances for the year ended March 2014, tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, the federal auditor has said large amounts of unspent provisions were in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RD&PR), Urban Development, Water Resources, Public Works, Education and Social Welfare departments. The total expenditure provision in 2013-14 fiscal was Rs 1,22,366 crore, including Rs 9,528.01 crore provided in the supplementary estimates.

The total unspent money in the RD&PR was Rs 5,003 crore, including Rs 2,042.93 crore of capital expenditure. In the Education department, Rs 2,800 crore had remained unspent and Rs 2,045 crore in the Urban Development department.

The CAG has attributed large amounts of money remaining unutilised to the poor control over expenditure. Funds meant for road repair, as assistance to local bodies and construction of new tanks and pickups, had remained unspent, as per the report.

The CAG has found provisions to the tune of Rs 2,045 crore made in the supplementary estimates during the same year by the government unnecessary. “Excessive / unnecessary supplementary provision and re-appropriation of funds injudiciously should be avoided. The re-appropriation of funds at the close of the financial year should be avoided,” the auditor stated in the report.

The audit report said the government had done misclassification of expenditure by paying electricity charges of Rs 35 lakh for operating Mysore airport at Mandakalli in 2011-12. The then government had not made any provision for this expenditure under the revenue head in that financial year. Hence, it finally ended up paying it from the capital head, the report added.