Representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Telecommunications had tough time answering the queries of Public Accounts Committee members on the public funds lying outside the government of India’s accounts. At a meeting here on Wednesday, the Ministries were asked to give clarifications on a CAG report that discussed public funds and “Universal Service Obligation Fund” of the TRAI.

The CAG report had pointed out that ₹5917.14 crore public fund is lying outside the government accounts. Of this, ₹3847.40 crore belongs to SEBI, IRDA and the CBSE.

The PAC members said though the CAG objected tothe practice of keeping funds outside government accounts, the Finance Ministry said that separate funds will be opened under the relevant heads in the Public Fund of India for operationalising the funds in the government account.

“The provisions of Constitution mandate that all revenues generated by the functions performed by any institution, including regulatory bodies, should form part of government accounts and the expenditure incurred by these bodies should be brought within the ambit of budgetary process so as to pass through parliamentary scrutiny,” a note circulated in the PAC said.

Justification not acceptable A PAC member told BusinessLine that the justification given by the Centre was not acceptable. “They told us that various Acts such as IRDA Act and SEBI Act empower those regulators to keep a separate fund. The Ministry should sit with CAG to end these anomalies. Acts will have to be amended, if needed. What they are following now is not a correct practice,” the member added.

On the USOF, amounting to ₹7896.39 crore, the PAC members said several earlier recommendations were not considered by the Telecom Ministry. The PAC urged the Ministries to provide details of the remedial measures taken by the Centre on the issues. The PAC is likely to summon the Health and HRD ministries too on the issue.

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