Raipur. Deputy Chief Minister Arun Saw has given instructions for pre-audit of all income and expenses to bring about tightening of financial discipline in municipal bodies. He also instructed to conduct a post-audit of the past four years of the previous government’s audit process. He asked to conduct an audit of all 184 urban bodies of the state as well as the Mechanical Cell of the Department of Urban Administration and Development and the State Urban Development Agency (SUDA). Instructions have been given to restart the co-internal inspection process. On his instructions, all 184 municipal bodies and two state offices, the Mechanical Cell of the Urban Administration and Development Department, and also the pre-inspection-cum-internal inspection and compliance with legal obligations are being prepared by the council. .
Underlining the need for pre-audit-cum-internal audit, Deputy Chief Minister Arun Saw said that after the commencement of audit in municipal bodies, all payment slips will be tested by CA firm through pre-audit. This will ensure compliance with all payment rules. He said that post audit will be done after the appointment of a new CA firm of all the wastes after the audit has been stopped by the previous government.
It is noteworthy that keeping in mind the necessity and importance of financial discipline in urban bodies, the work of pre-audit-cum-internal audit was started from the year 2015-16. Municipal Corporation Act-1956, Municipal Corporation Act-1961 and related rules, work department manual, warehouse purchase rules and instructions issued by the state government from time to time to ensure compliance in the bodies under the relevant regional office by the Municipal Administration Department. For internal audit, five groups (Clusters) were appointed as internal auditors to experienced Chartered Accountant Agencies (CA Firms).
The internal audit conducted in the state’s municipal bodies in the past helped a lot in implementing strict financial discipline. Pre-audit कारे जाने से निकायों में बिजेट के रोका को गया को गाया. More than 100 crores of rupees have been saved directly and indirectly in the organizations by controlling the payment related to various construction and supply works. According to the set-up, additional expenses were controlled by the recommendation of the payment of the installation expenses. Also, due to the timely resolution of statutory obligations and improvement in payment, reduction in penalties imposed on municipal bodies.
There was a reduction in punishment for municipal bodies. This pre-audit work was stopped by the previous government in October-2020.
Statutory obligations are generally followed at the corporate level. But due to some deficiencies, notices and demand letters are sent to the bodies by various revenue departments like GST, Income Tax, PF, ESIC etc. Pre-audit will be done by appointing new CA firms in order to avoid this and for smooth and regular compliance of legal obligations. This will reduce the number of notices and demands and will reduce the penalty imposed on the bodies and increase the revenue of the bodies. A pre-inspection-cum-internal inspection action plan is being prepared by Suda after the instructions of the Deputy Chief Minister.
