PANAJI
The failure of panchayats to consistently submit audited accounts and utilization certificates, coupled with delays in constituting the State Finance Commission, has resulted in Goa’s 191 local village bodies losing nearly 52% of the total funds allocated under the 13th, 14th, and 15th Finance Commissions.
As per the data available from the Union Ministry for Panchayati Raj, of the total Rs 593.31 cr allocation made towards panchayat in last one and half decade -- from 2010-2026- comprising of three Finance Commissions -- only Rs 290.7 cr were released to the State as on December 2024. Under the 15th Finance Commission, an amount of Rs 61 cr is allocated for the State for the upcoming financial year 2025-26.
The finance commission stipulated that 90 per cent of the grants would be basic grants and 10 per cent be performance grants (applicable from 2016-17). The grants provided were intended for supporting delivery of important basic services including water supply, sanitation, sewerage, and solid waste management, storm water drainage, maintenance of community assets, maintenance of roads, footpaths and street lighting, burial and cremation grounds and any other basic service within the functions assigned to panchayats under relevant legislations.
As per the data, under 15th finance commission (2020-2026), the Centre has so far released only 50 per cent of the grants that is Rs 154.23 cr as against the actual allocation of Rs 368 cr. What is interesting to note is that the State is yet to receive any grants for the financial year 2023-24 and 2024-25, despite an allocation of Rs 58 cr and Rs 62 cr respectively during that fiscal.
Centre released Rs 75 cr to the State as tied and untied funds to the panchayat bodies in 2020-21 and another Rs 55 cr in 2021-22. In 2022-23, of the total allocated Rs 57 cr, only Rs 24.23 cr were released to the State as on December 2024. The second instalment of that year, an amount of Rs 9 cr, was released in the first week of December, last month.
State managed to get the maximum during the 14th finance commission. Of the total allocation of Rs 133.76 cr towards rural local bodies, Rs 125.98 crore were released between 2015-20. The performance during the 13th finance commission (2010-15) remained very poor, with only 10 per cent of the funds being released that is Rs 10.49 cr of the total 91.55 cr earmarked.
Highly placed sources confirm that there are various factors attributing to non-release of funds or grants by the Centre to the State like failure to submit the audited accounts and utilization certificates by the panchayats and the delay over constituting State finance commission (SFC). Sources said that, Goa has been able to constitute only three SFCs during the period 1999 to 2022, as against six due as per the provisions of the Constitution.
“Also, the State has shown considerable backlog in drawing funds due to non-audited accounts of the rural local bodies,” sources said.
The 15th Finance Commission, formed in 2017, taking serious note of the failure to constitute SFC, had said that those states which did not comply with the Constitutional provisions in respect of the SFCs, Centre would not be released grants after March 2024.
Recommendations for Goa
The Third Goa’s State Finance Commission, in its report submitted in February, last year, had recommended that the State may appoint the High Level Committee to monitor the fund flow of Central Finance Commission grants and its timely utilization and submission of utilization certificate.
It also suggested that the State Government may develop customized Accounting Software for real time monitoring of Accounts/expenditure of the local bodies.
