SHILLONG, March 13: Most members of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) have failed to submit utilisation certificates (UC) with regard to the expenditure incurred by them against the discretionary grants which were sanctioned to the Chief Executive Member and the 29 MDCs during 2011-12, according to a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
The report said that the Council Executive Committee approved the sanction of Rs 9.40 lakh as discretionary grants to the CEM (Rs 70,000) and the 29 MDCs (Rs 30,000 each).
Scrutiny of the records revealed that against the sanctioned amount of Rs 9.40 lakh, the Secretary of the Executive Committee released Rs 9.20 lakh to its 30 members, the report said.
“No supporting vouchers against the expenditure incurred by the members of the district council were furnished. Only one member submitted Utilisation Certificate (UC) for part expenditure of Rs 0.30 lakh and no UCs or vouchers were submitted by the rest of the MDCs for the balance amount of Rs 8.90 lakh,” the CAG report revealed.
For the year ending March 31, 2013, on the approval of the EC, Rs 9.40 lakh was again sanctioned as discretionary grants to the CEM and the 29 MDCs during 2012-2013 with the stipulation that necessary UCs be submitted against the claim.
According to the CAG report, records’ scrutiny say that against the sanction, as many as 29 members submitted claims with the KHADC for release of discretionary grants to the tune of Rs 8.70 lakh.
The claims were, however, submitted together with the UCs for the amount claimed on the same date without any supporting vouchers against the expenditure incurred.
With this, the EC Secretary has made payment of Rs 8.70 lakh as discretionary grants without the supporting vouchers against the expenditure incurred.
“In the absence of necessary vouchers evidencing proper utilisation grants, the veracity of the expenditure of Rs 8.70 lakh incurred out of the KHADC fund could not be ascertained,” the report stated.
When apprised about the matter, the Secretary accepted in July 2019 that the MDCs showed little interest in furnishing the details of expenditure incurred by them during their tenure.
The EC Secretary further stated that CEM had already issued instructions on July 1, 2019, for preparation of the draft guidelines for regulation of the discretionary grants.
The CAG observed that the KHADC should have defined the objectives and activities to be taken up by the members for utilisation of discretionary grants or gratuitous relief and maintain proper accounts along with relevant supporting documents to ensure utilisation of the grant and relief funds.
“The Council may comply with the guidelines issued by the CEM,” the CAG report stated.