Enhancing maturity of accounts of local bodies to get priority: CAG

New Delhi, Mar 3 (PTI) Assessing the asset management and operational efficiencies of urban local bodies largely depend on the maturity of their accounts and their preparation, Comptroller and Auditor General of India K Sanjay Murthy has said.

There have been significant observations on the quality of these accounts that have been prepared, and CAG reiterated to stand alongside the state governments in preparing better quality of accounts going forward.

"Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has done significant work in bringing transparency and visibility to the preparation of accounts through the city finance portal, wherein all the accounts of local bodies are being uploaded," he said, while addressing the national conference of State Secretaries to strengthen accountability and transparency in local governments here on Monday.

Building upon that, the priority of the CAG will be to assess the maturity of these accounts that have been prepared, and as a pilot, some 700 accounts across geographies have been analysed to see the maturity of these accounts, he said.

Murthy stated that the 16th Finance Commission grants have increased more than two times, and one particular scheme itself, called the Urban Challenge Fund, has a potential investment of more than four lakh crore to be leveraged.

Each State follows its own mechanism in making grants to local bodies, and therefore, these transfers get reported without the desired uniformity, he said.

This has become more important during the award period of the FC-16 since it has recommended that 10 per cent of the grant be linked to the states transferring to their local bodies from their own resources at least an amount equal to 20 per cent of the basic grant recommended by FC-16 for local bodies in the State, he said.

Murthy also shared the opinion of the FC that CAG could uniformly and transparently report the grants given by States to their local bodies, and it would provide valuable information as well as enable proper implementation of this conditionality.

Addressing a session, Ministry of Panchayati Raj Secretary Vivek Bhardwaj said the department has many conversations over the last few months and is very grateful for CAG's support in ensuring that Panchayat Raj institutions now become examples of what a model gram panchayat should be.

This is possible by becoming accountable to its people, addressing their problems and keeping such accounts that they become bankable, he added. PTI DP DRR