GUWAHATI, Dec 15 ? The State Assembly today passed the Appropriation Bills relating to the fiscal years between 1995 and 2000. The Bills were meant for legalising an amount of Rs 13135,65,46,854 from the Consolidated Fund against the excess expenditure made by the State administration during the said period.
Replying to the concerns expressed by the members on the issue of excess drawal of public money by some people, Minister of State for Finance Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the Government had approached the State?s Vigilance Commissioner for categorical observations on the matter. There was an excess drawal of Rs 22,000 crore during 1985-2000.
Sarma said that without clinching proof of the crime committed by the persons accused to have been involved in the cases of excess drawal of such a huge amount there were risks of the Government dragging itself into litigation. But the request with the SVC was placed only on May 17 last. The SVC was given only three months? time for the purpose and extension was not granted to it as the approval of the House was awaited on the matter, he said.
He also told the members that the Government had initiated a move to provincialise 20 Primary schools in each of the constituencies this year. However, the consent of the Sixth Schedule areas for the purpose of provincialising the schools in their areas is needed. The review of the measure to improve the condition of the Primary schools thus would be done next year, he said.
Speaking on the issue of excess drawal of public money by the people manning the administration, independent MLA Premadhar Bora, wanted to know from the Government as to whether the recommendations of the 85th Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for punitive measures against the guilty persons were being implemented or not.
It may be mentioned that Bora headed the 85th Public Accounts Committee of the State Assembly, which studied the cases of excess drawal of Rs 22,000 crore between 1985 and 2000. The 85th PAC had recommended stern and exemplary punishment to those found guilty in the cases of excess drawal without the knowledge of the Assembly.
AGP?s Zoiinath Sarma suggested that the Government should introduce a system of reconciliation to check excess expenditure with a monitoring done quarterly every year. Excess drawals are done to pay the employees their salaries, he said. But a little later all the members of the opposition party left the House, which invited criticism from the treasury bench and also from independent member Premadhar Bora.