Panel concerned over state expenditure

A sub-committee within the fold of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the state assembly has raised serious concern over the failure of government to regularize excess expenditure of Rs 9716.74 crore during 1996-97 to 2009-10.

The committee observed that the state government failed to regularize excess expenditure continuously over a period expanding 14 years, skipping four plan periods and running out terms of four successive Finance commissions.

The maximum excess expenditure was noted in 1999-2000 ( Rs 2658.52 crore), followed by 2000-01 (Rs 2474.48 crore) and 2002-03 (Rs 2068.93 crroe).

Since there was no difficulty or discomfort due to non-regularization of excesses, the tendency to incur expenditure in excess of budgetary grants and the pendency of huge accumulated excesses in thousand of crores of rupees for regularization has gone unabated over the years, the assembly panel noted.

The panel said, the anarchic condition caused by indiscriminate use of the constitutional provision with regard to excess expenditure and the dismal failure of the state government to regularize this excess spending.