Food For Thought

Lax discipline and endemic corruption in bureaucracy have for long hurt the interests of Assam. The non-filing of utilization certificates (UCs) has been one such failing that has had serious repercussions on the wellbeing of common people of the State, particularly the poor. In continuing efforts to tighten up fiscal accountability, the Centre has been insisting on timely submission of UCs for stages of a government or welfare scheme — as a virtual pre-condition for release of funds for subsequent stages. Due to this ‘no UC submission, no fund release’ rule being strictly applied, the implementation of several such schemes has been held up. Happily, the State government has at last found some backbone to punish brazenly erring officials. As per a recent directive by the State Finance department, officials failing to furnish UCs despite repeated reminders, will be punished by measures like withholding of salary. While a corrupt official may not be affected if salary is held up as a punitive measure, he or she would still suffer a huge dent in reputation and service record. With the State Finance minister cracking the whip, seven officials are now finding their salaries withheld. They have failed to furnish UCs in their capacity as Drawing and Disbursal Officials (DDOs). It turns out that in the 2016-17 fiscal, as many as 53 government departments failed to submit a total of 1,782 UCs; the fund expenditures ‘which could not be accounted for’ totaled over Rs 12,281 crore. The officials concerned were directed to submit UCs in September this year, but failed to do so despite stern orders by the Finance minister. When they finally showed unwillingness or inability to file UCs, the only conclusion that could be arrived at was that these officials either misused the money or failed to account for it. Penalizing them sends a strict message to other officials that such behavior would not be tolerated. If need be, more drastic action should be taken against them, like dismissal from service and legal prosecution. This would do our leaking administration a world of good.

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