Ministry of Panchayati Raj to hold Consultation Meeting with States tomorrow on online audit and release procedure under 15th Finance Commission to Panchayati Raj Institutions

Ministry of Panchayati Raj is convening a Consultation meeting with States on online audit and release procedure under 15th Finance Commission to Panchayati Raj Institutions, in New Delhi tomorrow. The meeting would be chaired by Shri Sunil Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, in presence of Dr. Chandra Shekhar Kumar, Additional Secretary and Shri Alok Prem Nagar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Senior Officers from State Panchayati Raj Department will participate in the meeting along with representatives from Directorate of Local Fund and Audit.

Ministry of Panchayati Raj releases the Fifteenth Finance Commission (XV FC) Grants to the States in terms of Ministry of Finance (MOF) Operational Guidelines. XV FC has prescribed that only those States/RLBs having both provisional / audited accounts online in the public domain will receive grants from FY 2021-22. As per XV FC recommendations, for 2021-22 and 2022-23, States should ensure that at least 25% of RLBs have bot provisional accounts for the previous year and audited accounts for the year before the previous year available online in public domain in order to be eligible for the full grants. For 2023-24 onwards, States will receive the total grants due to only those RLBs having both provisional accounts for the previous year and audited accounts for the year before the previous available online in public domain.

XV FC has also stipulated that the constitution of due State Finance Commission (SFC) as necessary condition for release of grants to local bodies from 2024-25. All States which have not constituted due SFC must constitute SFCs, act upon their recommendations and lay the ATR before legislature on or before March, 2024. After March, 2024, no grants will be released to a State that has not complied with the constitutional provision of SFC.

In this direction, it has been observed that several States are yet to make significant progress. This one day Consultation Meeting is being organized by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to discuss the issues arising out of these two vital recommendations and to ascertain the strategy and preparedness of States in this regard. In this meeting, States would be sharing their strategy and preparedness in respect of above recommendations.