PANJIM: Grants amounting to whopping Rs 2,340 crore paid to the government remained unutilised up to March 31, 2019, with the State failing to submit the Utilisation Certificates (UCs), hinting at possible mis-utilisation of grants.
This was revealed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its report ending March 2019 tabled in the State Legislative Assembly recently.
The CAG has urged government to review the unspent balances, lying with the grantee institutions for long periods.
“Rule 212 of the General Financial Rules 2005, provides that for grants provided for specific purposes, UCs should be obtained by the departmental officers from the grantees,” the CAG report stated.
Of the 12,148 UCs due in respect of grants aggregating Rs 2,340.66 crore pending as on March 31,2019; 5,838 UCs for an aggregate amount of Rs 1,757.04 crore were pending for more than one to five years.
Remaining 6,310 UCs involving Rs 583.62 crore were pending for more than five years.
“In the absence of the requisite certificates, it could not be ascertained in audit whether the recipients had utilised the grants for the purpose for which these were given,” CAG said.
The highest pendency is with Department of Art and Culture, Directorate of Panchayat, etc.
