SHILLONG: The Megh-alaya State Planning Board (MSPB) has decided to request State Government to speed up constitution of the Meghalaya State Finance Commission (MSFC) for streamlining the sharing of revenues between the State government the three autonomous district councils.
“We would also be submitting a report to apprise Government on the urgency to constitute the MSFC,” MPSC co chairman John F Kharshiing said after chairing a meeting of the working group of MSPB here on Friday.
It may be mentioned that the meeting was by the officials of the GHADC only.
Kharshiing said that as per the Law department, the process for constituting the Commission is in advanced stage. “As mandated by the Act, this commission would go into the issues of revenue sharing between the State, District Council and Traditional bodies. This would improve the revenue health of the district councils,” MSPB co-chairman said.
During the meeting, one of the major issues which were raised on the lack of clarity over the revenue sharing on major and minor resources and it was felt that there was a need to enhance the shares of the ADCs.
The working group will also recommend on the need to increase the manpower of the different departments in the GHADC. According to the GHADC officials, there is huge shortage of manpower. At present, the total staff strength in GHADC is 1200. Rs 3 crore is spent for salaries every month.
The council said that it is in the process of proposing the setting up of district council courts in all the districts of the region. Kharshiing said that the working group will also recommend to the board to propose to the state government for the allocation of funds for introduction of Information Technology department in the council.
The department will facilitate enhancement of the council’s revenue generation, he said. The working group function is to review the gaps, compile the report and submit to the MSPB chairman Salseng Sangma for necessary recommendation to the state government.
During the meeting, the GHADC officials urged the MSBP to intervene and recommend to the State Government for review and enhancement of the present 25:75 revenue sharing ratio to a 50 : 50 sharing basis, so as to enable the ADCs to manage their financial requirements and to also adequately enhance the plan allocation. The GHADC during their presentation stressed for further manpower to strengthening the GHADC departments of Civil, Forest, Finance, Taxation (Enforcement), Land Records and IT. They submitted that due to funds constrains they were yet to introduce IT in the various departments. The meeting was of the view that the GHADC should approach the IT Department, of the State Government for help in having their own website similar to KHADC.
The MSPB felt that introduction of IT technology in the management and administration of Finance Dept, Transport Dept, Toll Gates, Collection of Professional Taxes, and Trading Licenses, will in a large way address the leakages in the revenues of the GHADC. Presently, the GHADC had a staff strength of 1200 and the total expenditure on salaries was about Rs 36 crs per year while the over all receipts from revenue and state government aid was about Rs 30 cr.
The GHADC also informed that they have approached the State Government for deputing police personnel to the ADC to assist in Enforcement of Trading License as their present enforcement staff was not empowered with powers to Police. The GHADC also urged the MSPB to recommend to the State Government to simplify the process of releasing funds and revenue share of the GHADC. With regards to the proposed amendments to the Sixth Schedule, he said that those submitted by the three ADCs was still under review and consideration of the District Council Affairs department.
