THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The general perception of a governance breakdown in the Finance Department has been confirmed by the fact that the state has still not furnished to the Centre the plan expenditure details of even the last fiscal.
If last fiscal's expenditure details are not provided by November 25, the Centre has threatened to hold back its assistance during the last quarter of this fiscal.
“If this happens, a state already starved for cash will be pushed into a further expenditure rut,” a top Finance Department official said.
Every year a consolidated statement of actual expenditure incurred under 'Plan' during the previous financial year needs to be forwarded to the Centre with the expenditure incurred under both earmarked and un-earmarked schemes against the Plan Outlay approved by the Planning Commission.
The poor utilization during the last fiscal is said to be behind the failure to provide the details. Official figures say that the plan fund utilization during 2013-14 was 79.89 percent, lowest in a decade.
Even this figure is said to be an exaggeration. “Even in November 2013, the utilization was only 21 percent.
This means 60 percent of the funds were utilized in the last four months of 2013-14 fiscal, which is virtually impossible,” Xavier Sebastian, a former Finance Department official said.
The Finance Department itself had warned the departments against exaggeration while providing expenditure details.
A recent missive sent from the Finance Department to all other state departments states: “Since the final adjustment of Central Assistance on State Plan Schemes and Centrally Sponsored Schemes will be based on audited figures of expenditure, all heads of department shall ensure that the departmental figures reported to Finance Department tally with the audited figures of expenditure.”
