Ishtiyaq Ahmed
Srinagar, Apr 06 : The government has directed the departments to ensure “regular follow-up” with the concerned ministries in government of India for accessing funds under centrally sponsored schemes and ensure timely submission of utilization certification.
The non-submission of utilization certificates by various departments has been “impacting” the Centre’s fund flow, leading to “hampering” of growth to the state.
As per an order of the Finance Department, some departments either avoid follow up or are indifferent towards submission of utilization certificates to the concerned ministries in Government of India, which “adversely impacts flow of funds and thus hampers the development of the state”.
The order reads, “Centrally sponsored schemes play a pivotal role in achieving desired levels of development in the state, therefore, important to ensure expeditious implementation of such projects, which necessitates timely submission of UCs and timely achievement of physical and financial milestones.”
The government has directed the departments to ensure “regular follow-up” with the concerned ministries in government of India for accessing funds under centrally sponsored schemes and ensure timely submission of utilization certification.
The departmental heads have been directed to submit utilization certification to the government for transparency in utilization of funds of various developmental works.
However, it has been found that various departments have not submitted the utilization certification for various schemes to the government.
An official of the Finance Department said that it was mandatory for departments to submit utilization certification so that government knows where the money has been utilized.
According to a government circular issued to departments last year, it has been observed that various administrative departments do not fully utilize the funds authorized under different centrally sponsored schemes during the currency of a particular financial year and often seek “revalidation of the funds even upto the fag end of the next financial year”.
Government has issued circulars several times that departments do not fully utilise the funds authorized under different centrally sponsored schemes.
