Ministries urged to address ‘increased’ demands for funds

The finance ministry has asked all ministries to remove ‘redundant or increased’ funding requests from their existing budget allocations and tap savings before seeking more funds for this year.

The ministry has urged the departments to ‘avoid losses’ in expenditure red-flagged by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and undertake a thorough and objective assessment of the additional funds required as supplementary demands for grants.

The Department of Economic Affairs, in a memorandum issued on Monday, has sought proposals from the ministries by November 11 for the first batch of supplementary demands to be placed in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.

The officers of the concerned Ministries processing the Supplementary Demand Proposals have been directed to ‘always identify the savings available so as to eliminate redundant or inflated demands and avoid the possibility of ‘surrender’ after receiving the supplementary grant. Can go

Departments have been reminded of PAC’s scathing remarks that they were rapping for ‘monotonous approach’ in preparing budget estimates on ‘excess expenditure’ and supplementary demands marked by ‘poor planning, lack of foresight and ineffective monitoring’ was.

While the finance ministry itself has advised departments to propose supplementary demands in the winter session in some cases, the ministries have broadly been advised to ask for more funds only in some other cases.

These include situations where payment cannot be deferred against court orders, where advances from the contingency fund have been provided, and items for which excessive spending has been allowed under the rules.