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Vice president calls for strict control on public expenditure

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

"Over Rs 940 billion was spent in excess of that authorised by law-makers in several states," Vice-President of India Krishna Kant said in Lucknow on Saturday.

Krishna Kant was inaugurating the country's first-ever national conference on 'Legislative Control over Public Purse'. Top legislative functionaries from about 17 states were among the over 200 delegates who attended. The second session of the meet would be addressed by Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi on Sunday.

Kant stressed upon the need for 'widespread changes in the financial architecture both within the country and internationally'. He lamented that the entire system of public audit through the offices of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Public Accounts Committee was 'impaired due to the large scale delay in submission of replies to audit reports by the executive'.

He said, "it is the duty of a legislature in a democracy to ensure that the taxpayer's money is spent prudently and for the stated purposes, so that he received full value for his money in the shape of overall development and welfare. This is a very good theory and, like all theories, it is frequently defeated by practice."

He regretted that non-plan expenditure in the year 1999-2000 amounted to about 78 per cent of the overall expenditure. He said, "the tendency to rush to borrow funds is another factor, which is not conducive to healthy macro-management of the economy." He pointed out that between 1994 and 1999, 71 to 77 per cent of the total expenditure was not subject to scrutiny by Parliament.

He felt that good management of public expenditure would expand legislative control, bring about higher accountability and greater transparency. "The interest of the nation and democracy is best served when the executive discharges its accountability obligations to the legislature and the legislature is vigilant enough to enforce that obligation."

The issues raised by the vice president became the subject of discussion in the corridors of power in Lucknow as it was widely felt that each of the ills highlighted by him were rampant in Uttar Pradesh.

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