India News | Delhi Finance Dept Starts Process of Preparing Govt's Revised Estimates for 2021-22

New Delhi, Sep 21 (PTI) The Delhi finance department has started the process of preparation of the city government's revised estimates for the current financial year and the budget estimates for 2022-23, asking various departments to submit "realistic" estimates with proper analysis, officials said.

Departments have been asked to submit their revised estimates (RE) 2021-22 and budget estimates (BE) 2022-23 in a prescribed format as per the General Financial Rules, 2017, they said.

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"The wide variations between the original budget estimates and the actual expenditure incurred lead to an obvious conclusion that the departments have not been able to properly anticipate and assess and project a realistic requirement of funds," stated a budget circular issued by the finance department.

Unrealistic assessment of funds is not conducive to a proper budgeting system, it said.

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The revised and the budget estimates should be formulated taking a "realistic" assessment of the requirement of funds which are to be utilised by the department during the financial year, the department stated.

Several discrepancies have been found to occur in framing of budget estimates by the departments in the past. Some departments have failed to realistically assess the requirement of their funds under the 'salaries' head, resulting in either substantial savings or additional requirement of funds, the officials said.

There have been instances when supplementary demands for grants were taken by the departments to incur expenditure on certain schemes and sub-schemes but actual expenditure incurred was less than the original budget estimates at the end of the financial year, they said.

It has also been noticed that re-appropriation of funds was taken by the departments but they were not able to utilise even their original budget estimates. There were also cases where the actual expenditure at the close of financial year was found either in excess or short of the budget provision, they added.

A realistic assessment of requirement of funds by departments will help avoid such situations, the officials said.

It has been observed that some of the departments submit proposals for opening of 'new heads' for implementation of 'new schemes' only when the funds have been received from the nodal ministry at the Centre.

"For introduction of any new scheme where provisions of new services/new instruments of services are attracted, approval of the legislative assembly by way of supplementary demand for grants is required," the circular stated.

The departments should ensure that budget provisions are made in their estimates to avoid delay in implementation of the scheme, it said.

They have also been asked to get the estimates vetted by their integrated financial advisers before submission to the finance department.

The pre-budget meetings of the department are expected to start from the first week of October. The revised and budget estimates will be placed in the Assembly in its winter session, the officials added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)