Audit Reports

Overview

The Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the accounts of the State Finances of the Government of Jharkhand for the year ended 31 March 2021, prepared under Article 151 of the Constitution of India, was submitted to the Governor of Jharkhand on 05.05.2022. The report was presented to the Legislative Assembly on 04.08.2022.

A summary of important points highlighted in the Report is indicated below:

Chapter- 1 describes the basis and approach to the Report and the underlying data, provides an overview of structure of government accounts.

The State had a revenue deficit of ` 3,114 crore in 2020-21. The fiscal deficit of the State was 4.70 per cent of GSDP at the end of March 2021.

Paragraph 1.5.1

In order to arrive at actual figures, irregularities such as the impact of deferment of clear cut liabilities, not depositing cess/royalty to Consolidated Fund, short contribution to New Pension Scheme, sinking and redemption funds, etc need to be reversed. Post audit, the revenue deficit and fiscal deficit were understated by
` 188.18 crore. Thus, the revenue deficit and fiscal deficit, stated as ` 3,113.86 crore and ` 14,910.74 crore in the Finance Accounts, would actually be ` 3,302.04 crore and ` 15,098.92 crore, respectively.

Paragraph 1.6.1

Chapter- 2 provides a broad perspective of the finances of the State and analyses the critical changes in major fiscal aggregates relative to the previous year.

During 2020-21, the revenue expenditure of the State constituted 83.30 per cent of the total expenditure, of which 42.98 per cent was utilised on Salaries & Wages, Interest Payments and Pension. Salaries & Wages, Interest Payments and Pension consumed 45.32 per cent of the revenue receipts in 2020-21.

Paragraph 2.4.1

During 2020-21, the capital expenditure decreased by ` 1,413 crore, due to less expenditure on general services by 38 per cent and economic services by 14 per cent, over the previous year.

Paragraph 2.4.3

Overall fiscal liabilities (Total Debt) increased from ` 94,407 crore in 2019-20 to ` 1,09,185 crore in 2020-21.The fiscal liabilities to GSDP ratio was 33.90 per cent against the MTFP target of 32.60 per cent. Increasing liabilities raised the issue of sustainability of State Government Finances.

Paragraph 2.5.4

Chapter- 3 is based on the Appropriation Accounts of the State and reviews of the appropriations and allocative priorities of the State Government and reports on deviations from Constitutional provisions relating to budgetary management.

During 2020-21, the total savings of ` 21,819.49 crore (22.66 per cent of the total budget) under the grants was indicative of improper budget estimation. Further, these grants had persistent savings of at least ` 6,500.64 crore during each of the last four years.

Paragraph 3.1.1

Supplementary provisions aggregating ` 5,400.83 crore (54.51 per cent) obtained in 34 cases (` 0.50 crore or more in each case) during the year, proved unnecessary, as the expenditure did not come up even to the level of the original provisions.

Paragraph 3.2.3

Excess disbursement over grant/appropriation amounting to ` 3,328.68 crore, pertaining to the years 2001-02 to 2019-20, is yet to be regularised by the State Legislature. Further, excess expenditure of ` 144.95 crore was incurred in one appropriation (13- Interest Payment) during 2020-21.

Paragraph 3.2.7

Chapter- 4 provides comments on the quality of accounts rendered by various authorities of the State Government and issues of non-compliance with prescribed financial rules and regulations.

Labour cess, amounting to ` 609.33 crore collected up to March 2021, was not transferred to the Labour Welfare Board Fund (October 2021), thereby overstating the revenue surplus and understating the fiscal deficit of the State during the relevant years (2008-21).

Paragraph 4.1.1

As on 31 March 2021, 34,017 Utilisation Certificates (UCs), amounting to ` 88,047.48 crore, were outstanding in the State under different departments.

Paragraph 4.5

As of 31 March 2021, a huge number of DC bills (18,272), amounting to ` 6,018.99 crore, were not submitted against the AC bills drawn up to 2020-21.

Paragraph 4.6

Chapter- 5 presents the summary of financial performance of Government Companies and Government controlled other Companies.

There were 31 State Public Sector Enterprises (SPSEs) under the audit jurisdiction of the CAG. Of these, the financial performance, based on updated accounts upto 2020-21 (previous three years) of 16 SPSEs (including one State Government Controlled other Company), was covered. Out of the 16 SPSEs, only one has finalised its accounts for the year 2020-21, 08 SPSEs had finalized their accounts for the year 2019-20 and 07 SPSEs had finalised their accounts for the year 2018-19, till 31 March 2021.

Paragraph 5.4

The turnover of SPSEs increased from ` 4,433.80 crore in 2018-19 to ` 5,605.82 crore in 2019-20 and decreased to ` 5,603.41 crore in 2020-21.

Paragraph 5.5

Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) of the Power Sector in 2018-19 was (-) 4.66 
per cent which decreased to (-) 6.42 per cent during 2019-20 and 2020-21 due to loss of ` 969.80 crore (2018-19) to ` 1,357.80 crore (2020-21) incurred by SPSEs. During the period 2018-19 to 2020-21, the ROCE of the Non-Power Sector has reduced from 1.71 per cent to 1.14 per cent.

Paragraph 5.15

Download Audit Report

• Report No. 2 of 2022 - State Finances Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ended 31 March 2021

• Cover Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Executive Summary
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Appendices