The 15th Finance Commission headed by Chairman, Shri N.K. Singh along with its Members and senior officials met today with the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) of Rajasthan.

The Commission was informed that 23 functions out of 29 envisaged in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution devolved to PRIs

Rajasthan has a total of 10,220 PRIs, of which 9892 are Gram Panchayats, 295 Panchayat Samities and 33 Zila Parishads.

The 14th Finance Commission had recommended a devolution of ₹ 12270 crores to Rajasthan as Basic Grant ( 6.8 per cent of total grants) and a devolution of ₹ 1363 crores as Performance grant ( 6.8 per cent of total grants) for the period  2016-20.

The Commission has expressed concern over the following issues pertaining to accounting of PRIs –

• The accountability mechanism and financial reporting of the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the State continues to be weak.
• Of the total 10219 PRIs, only 6802(66.5%) of PRI Accounts were certified by Department of Local Fund Audit, of which only 20(0.2%) PRI accounts were certified without qualification.
• Only 20% of the PRIs have closed their yearbooks with Priasoft in 2017-18.
• Functions Transferred without funds and functionaries: Out of 23 functions transferred, Funds and Functionaries were transferred in 15 out of 23 subjects.
• Unutilized Funds: As on March 2018, ₹ 1872.01 cr,& Rs  1,449.78 cr was lying as unutilized closing balances in Zila Panchayat  funds, Panchayat Samiti funds
• Model Accounting System (MAS) for PRIs is followed in the State. However, only few PRIs use the system for monthly reconciliations of accounts.

Representatives of PRIs from Zilla Parishads of Bikaner, Kota, Dausa, Jaipur, Panchayati Samitis of Karauli, Alwar, Ajmer and Gram Panchayats of Ajmer, Sikar and Tonk were present for discussions with the Finance Commission.

The Commission noted all the concerns highlighted by the representatives of the PRIs and promised to address them in its recommendations to the Central Government.

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MC

 (Release ID: 1584471) Visitor Counter : 139

Local government financial accountability weak; commission to address audit, reporting and fund-transfer gaps in recommendations. The Commission met Rajasthan PRI representatives and found weak financial accountability and reporting: low audit certification rates and few accounts certified without qualification; limited closure of Priasoft yearbooks and under utilisation of the Model Accounting System for reconciliations. It also noted incomplete transfer of funds and functionaries for devolved functions and sizable unutilized closing balances in PRI funds. The Commission recorded these deficiencies and will address audit coverage, accounting practices, fund transfers and PRI reporting in its recommendations to the central government.