GUWAHATI, Dec 5: The Assam Finance Department has cracked the whip on six Government departments, and has held the salaries of seven Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) for non-submission of utilization certificates for grants amounting to Rs 622.28 Crore that was released by the department since the 2001-02 fiscal.
“Adhering to principles of good governance and zero tolerance against non-compliance, I am glad to share that in a historic move Government of Assam has stopped salaries of 6 DDOs for non submission of 58 utilization certificates,” Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated in a tweet.
Adhering to principles of good governance and zero tolerance against non-compliance, I am glad to share that in a historic move Government of Assam has stopped salaries of 6 DDOs for non submission of 58 utilization certificates. @PMOIndia @nsitharaman pic.twitter.com/qWDRQ5ZPmJ
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) December 5, 2019
The Assam Finance department’s action comes in the wake of the CAG report that stated that a significant number of outstanding utilization certificates were pending against grants released to various Government departments since the 2001-02 financial year.
The report stated that for the year 2016-17, the total number of pending utilization certificates was 1,782 and that it amounted to grants amounting to Rs 12282.52 Crore across 53 departments.
The Finance Department says although it held a series of review meetings so as to address the problem of timely submission of utilization certificates, seven DDOs under six administrative departments could not submit utilization certificates amounting to Rs 622.28 Crore.
The department has, therefore, decided to stop the release of salaries of the defaulting DDOs till they submit the certificates.
The defaulting DDOs, the number of pending utilization certificates and the amount of grants for which the certificates have not been released are listed in the table below:
