Raipur: Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao has passed instructions necessary to enhance the financial discipline in the municipal bodies by undergoing pre-audit and internal checking and evaluation of all the revenue and expenses. He pointed to a stoppage of audit activities for the last four years under the previous government and the existence of poor performance demonstrated through the audit of accumulated deficits required post-audit. This directive includes auditing all the 184 municipal councils in the state besides the engineering cell of the Municipal Administration and Development Department and the SUDA.
While speaking on pre-audit and self-assessment, Deputy Chief Minister Sao reminded us that the proposed measure to commence audits in the municipal bodies would entail the prior audit of all the expenses incurred by the CA firms. This tended to help to comply with all the set payment rules and regulations to try and impose fiscal sanity among the municipal entities.
Interestingly, the practice of pre-audit and internal assessment in the municipal bodies in Chhattisgarh have been started in the fiscal year 2015-16. The management adopted the services of qualified chartered accountancy firms, where five clusters within the regional offices of the Municipal Administration Department were located, which meant that internal auditing was now properly done. Hence, previous efforts greatly helped manage necessary expenditures in constructing and procurement activities, saving above ₹100 crore. Like the payment recommendation for setup, establishment expenses were also kept low in relation to additional expenses. Verification and subsequent improvement in the payment time helped lessen penalties on various municipal bodies.
Thus, despite the capacity to meet legal requirements at first instance, assorted notices and demands from many revenue departments, like GST, income tax, PF, ESI, etc., are still issued to the municipal bodies, given some shortcomings. To avert this, additional measures will be taken so that new CA firms are engaged for pre-audit, thus minimizing notices and demands and, on the other hand, enhancing municipal revenues.
In accordance with the directives of Deputy Chief Minister Sao, SUDA is currently developing the pre-audit and internal assessment plan. This effort is presumed to reduce the suffice and communication of notices and demands and lower penalties against the municipal bodies it will be addressing.
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