Notwithstanding the requirement of submitting Detailed Countersigned Contingency (DCC) bills against the advance money withdrawn through Abstract Contingency (AC) Bills, 3,466 AC bills of Rs 19,774.97 Cr were pending for submission of DCC bills as on March 31, 2023, in violation of codal provisions by the J&K government.

Out of 3466 bills, 1,877 AC bills amounting to Rs 5,583.15 Cr pertained to the period prior to October 30, 2019 of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Non-compliance with prevailing rules and codal provisions thus adversely impacting the control and accountability in accounting and financial reporting by the J&K government has been flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in its report on the Union Territory finances for the year ended 2022-23.

The audit report has pointed out that the government of UT of J&K has not revised codal provisions for drawal of Abstract Contingent (AC) bills and settlement thereof. However, Financial Code volume-I of the erstwhile State of J&K envisages that when it is considered necessary to draw money from the treasury for contingent expenditure of which vouchers cannot be readily obtained before payment, Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) are authorised to draw sums of money through AC bills.

In terms of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir (pre re-organisation) Financial Code, DDOs are required to present Detailed Countersigned Contingent (DCC) bills containing vouchers in support of final expenditure within two months from the date on which the advance was drawn. However, the year-wise position of AC Bills from October 31, 2019 till January 31, 2023 depicted that the number of AC bills cleared was less than the number of new AC bills drawn during the respective periods.

This resulted in increase in the number of unadjusted AC bills, resulting in a total of 1,589 bills amounting to Rs 14,191.82 Cr as on March 31, 2023.

DCC bills in respect of 1,877 AC bills amounting to Rs 5,583.15 Cr drawn up to October 30, 2019 by the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir were awaited as on March 31, 2023. “The bifurcation of these outstanding AC bills is yet to be done between the successor Union Territories viz., Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh. More than 82 per cent of DCC bills are awaited from seven departments viz., Rural Development Department; Public Works Department; Social Security and Welfare; Housing and Urban Development; Planning and Development; Education and Health and medical Education Departments,” the audit report mentioned.

Further, as per the audit, 384 AC bills amounting to Rs 3,310.85 Cr were drawn during the year 2022-23, out of which 145 AC bills amounting to Rs 709.58 Cr (21.43 percent) were drawn in March 2023. Expenditure against AC bills in March indicated that the drawals were primarily to exhaust the budget provisions and revealed inadequate budgetary control.

A comprehensive audit of two grants or departments, i.e, Culture Department and Youth Services and Technical Education Department was conducted. It was noticed that DCC bills for an amount of Rs 24.98 Cr was outstanding in respect of advance drawals made by Directorate of Youth Services and Sports (Rs 1.24 Cr), Technical Education Department (Rs 22.49 Cr) and Directorate of Libraries and Research (Rs 1.25 Cr). “During the exit conference (April 2024), the Finance Department stated that the concerned line departments were being directed to ensure submission of DC bills in a time-bound manner,” the CAG mentioned. As per report, it was also assured that all the departments would be urged to expedite the submission of DC bills to the Principal Accountant General (A&E) office. “Compliance with prevailing rules and codal provisions are meant to ensure control and accountability in accounting and financial reporting. Non-compliance and deviations impact the quality of accounting and financial reporting adversely. Non submission of Utilisation Certificates (UCs) against conditional grants; non-submission of DC bills against AC bills; non-compliance with Indian Government Accounting Service- (IGAS-2) and IGAS-3 have impacted the quality of accounts adversely,” the audit report stated censuring the Finance department.