Must follow rules: Lt Guv Kiran Bedi rebuts Puducherry CM’s charge of delaying funds

Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy accused Kiran Bedi of delaying the sanction of money for disbursement of salaries despite the government sending the files to her.
Must follow rules: Lt Guv Kiran Bedi rebuts Puducherry CM’s charge of delaying funds
Must follow rules: Lt Guv Kiran Bedi rebuts Puducherry CM’s charge of delaying funds
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In yet another display of the discord between the elected government and the Lieutenant Governor in Puducherry, Kiran Bedi responded to the accusations levelled against her by Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy over the allocation of funds.

The CM had accused Kiran Bedi of not following the orders of the Ministry of Home affairs when it comes to financial powers and accused Bedi of delaying the sanction of money for disbursement of salaries despite the government sending the files to her.

“To run the undertakings in the public sector and the cooperative sector, we had allocated a subsidy of Rs 786 crore in the budget for 2018-19, of which Rs 326 crore were pertaining to the salaries of the employees in those companies for the last two years," he said. He also accused her of rejecting the government's proposal and asking too many questions.

Bedi took to Twitter to clarify that grants-in-aid can be sanctioned only in adherence to the process laid down in the General Financial Rules 230. Kiran Bedi in her tweet stated that every grant has to be justified as per the provisions laid down in the General Financial Rules and that there is no place for deviation or discretion from anyone when it comes to the purpose of such grants.

“The Finance department has asked all departments to forward proposal meeting the requirements of the financial rules...As any sanction not according to rules will be a serious violation and subject to audit objections I shall sanction provided it follows the laid down financial rules, which is my duty to do,” she stated.

According to General Financial Rules, Grants-in-aid can be given to “a person or a public body or an institution having a distinct legal entity including autonomous organisations set up under a specific act or registered as a trust or a society, NGOs or voluntary organisations that carry out government schemes, educational institutions, self-government institutions, cooperative societies and societies or clubs set up by government servants to promote recreational activities.

Any institution seeking grants-in-aid from the government must submit an application including all relevant details like the bye-laws of the organisation, audited financial statements, income and expenditure patterns etc. The purpose for applying for the grant also must be mentioned in the application.

“If the government, present and past, has been violating the rules it shall be held accountable to the financial auditors, sooner or later. But because it has violated in the past is no justification for the violations to continue,” added the statement.

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