CAG raises concerns over utilisation certificates

Chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government has failed to issue Utilization Certificates (UCs) amounting to ₹1,744.60 crore between March 2023 and March 2024.

This was pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that was laid in the Assembly on Thursday in which concerns have been raised regarding the UCs.

As per the CAG report 2023-24, Himachal state government was required to submit 1,342 UCs amounting to ₹1,744.60 crore between March 2023 and March 2024, which were not issued.

Not just present Congress government but even the previous Jai Ram Thakur led BJP failed to issue 1,648 UCs amounting to ₹1,050.63 crore. These were due by March 2023 and remained unissued as of March 2024.

As per the CAG report, by March 31, 2024, a total of 2,990 UCs worth ₹2,795.23 crore were still pending.

Furthermore, the CAG noted that the State government did not provide any assurance that the allocated funds were used for their intended purpose.

As per the report, the total receipts decreased to ₹54,104 crore in 2023-24 from ₹60,556.70 crore in 2022-23 inspite of increase in Tax, non-Tax and share in Union taxes and duties as grants from Central government were reduced from ₹16,733.93 crore to ₹14,942 .15 crore.

However, the revenue deficit was marginally down from ₹6335.76 crore (2022-23) to ₹5,558 crore (2023-24).The expenditure in salaries was ₹15,046 .97 crore in 2023-24 compared to ₹15569 crore in 2022-23 while expenditure on pension increased from ₹9283 crore to ₹10,055.85 crore and interest payment from ₹4828.64 crore to ₹5648.37 crore.

Liabilities of the government went up from ₹86,589.43 core in 2022-23 crore to ₹96,632.9 crore in 2023-24 as internal debts mounted from ₹55,975.16 crore to ₹61,439.29 crore, loans from central government from ₹7388.32 crore to ₹8929.83 crore.