Ministry of Panchayati Raj to hold consultation meeting with states tomorrow on online audit

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is going to convene a consultation meeting with states on the online audit and release procedure under the 15th Finance Commission to Panchayati Raj Institutions, in New Delhi on Friday, a press release said on Thursday.

The meeting will be chaired by Sunil Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, in presence of Chandra Shekhar Kumar, Additional Secretary and Alok Prem Nagar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, added the press release.

According to the statement, Senior Officers from State Panchayati Raj Department will participate in the meeting along with representatives from the Directorate of Local Fund and Audit.

Ministry of Panchayati Raj releases the Fifteenth Finance Commission (XV FC) Grants to the States in terms of Ministry of Finance (MOF) Operational Guidelines. XV FC has prescribed that only those States/RLBs having both provisional / audited accounts online in the public domain will receive grants from FY 2021-22.

As per XV FC recommendations, for 2021-22 and 2022-23, States should ensure that at least 25 per cent of RLBs have both provisional accounts for the previous year and audited accounts for the year before the previous year available online in the public domain in order to be eligible for the full grants.

For 2023-24 onwards, States will receive the total grants due to only those RLBs having both provisional accounts for the previous year and audited accounts for the year before the previously available online in the public domain.

XV FC has also stipulated that the constitution of due State Finance Commission (SFC) is a necessary condition for the release of grants to local bodies from 2024-25.

All States which have not constituted due SFC must constitute SFCs, act upon their recommendations and lay the ATR before the legislature on or before March 2024.

After March 2024, no grants will be released to a State that has not complied with the constitutional provision of SFC.

In this direction, it has been observed that several States are yet to make significant progress.

This one-day Consultation Meeting is being organized by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to discuss the issues arising out of these two vital recommendations and to ascertain the strategy and preparedness of States in this regard. In this meeting, States would be sharing their strategy and preparedness in respect of the above recommendations.

( With inputs from ANI )