Certificate of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India


     This compilation containing the Finance Accounts of the Government of Jharkhand for the
year ending 31 March 2021 presents the financial position along with accounts of the receipts
and disbursements of the Government for the year. These accounts are presented in two volumes,
Volume-I contains the consolidated position of the state of Finances and Volume -II depicts the
Accounts in detail. The Appropriation Accounts of the Government for the year for Grants and
Charged appropriations are presented in a separate compilation.

     The Finance Accounts have been prepared under my supervision in accordance with
the requirements of the Comptroller & Auditor General’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of
Service) Act, 1971 read with the provisions of the Bihar Re-organisation Act, 2000 and have
been compiled from the vouchers, challans and initial and subsidiary accounts rendered by the
treasuries, offices and departments responsible for the keeping of such accounts functioning
under the control of the Government of Jharkhand and statements received from the Reserve
Bank of India. Statements (8, 9, 10(ii), 17(b)(i), 17(c)(i) and 19), explanatory notes (7) of
Statement No. 5 and explanatory note (III) of Statement No. 14 and Appendices (V, VIII(i),
VIII(ii), IX & X) in this compilation have been prepared directly from the information received
from the Government of Jharkhand/Corporations/Companies/Societies who are responsible to
ensure the correctness of such information.

     The treasuries, offices and/or departments functioning under the control of the Government
of Jharkhand are primarily responsible for preparation and correctness of the initial and
subsidiary accounts as well as ensuring the regularity of transactions in accordance with the
applicable laws, standards, rules and regulations relating to such accounts and transactions. I
am responsible for preparation and submission of Annual Accounts to the State Legislature. My
responsibility for the preparation of Accounts is discharged through the office of the Principal
Accountant General (A&E). The audit of these accounts is independently conducted through
the office of the Principal Accountant General (Audit) in accordance with the requirements
of Articles 149 and 151 of the Constitution of India and the Comptroller & Auditor General’s
(Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971, for expressing an opinion on these
accounts based on the results of such audit. These offices are independent organisations with
distinct cadres, separate reporting lines and management structure.

     The audit was conducted in accordance with the Auditing Standards generally accepted in
India. These Standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance
that the accounts are free from material misstatement. An audit includes examination, on a test
basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.




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     On the basis of the information and explanations that my officers required and have
obtained and according to the best of my information as a result of test audit of the accounts and
on consideration of explanations given, I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
the Finance Accounts read with the explanatory ‘Notes to Accounts’ give a true and fair view of
the financial position and the receipts and disbursements of the Government of Jharkhand for
the year 2020-21.

     Points of interest arising from study of these accounts as well as test audit conducted
during the year or earlier years are contained in my Financial, Compliance and Performance
Audit Reports on the Government of Jharkhand being presented separately for the year ended
31 March 2021.

Emphasis of matter
    I want to draw attention to the following significant issues/concerns raised which are
important from the point of view of accuracy, transparency and completeness of these accounts
and maintaining legislative financial control over public finances.

1.	     Sixteen departments of the State had drawn `1,911.15 crore from Government accounts
against 357 Abstract Contingent (AC) bills during the financial year 2020-21 but did not submit
337 Detailed Contingent (DC) bills amounting to `1,062.31 crore before the close of the
financial year. Therefore, there is no assurance that the amount of `1,062.31 crore has actually
been incurred during the financial year for the purpose for which it was sanctioned/authorised
by the Legislature. This is a possible overstatement of expenditure in the year 2020-21.

	       In addition to this, 17,935 AC bills amounting to `4,956.68 crore drawn up to 2019-20 were
also outstanding as on 31 March 2021. Advances drawn and not accounted for increases the
possibility of wastage/misappropriation/malfeasance etc.

2.	     During the year 2020-21, 4,749 Utilisation Certificates (UCs) amounting to `18,734.70
crore, which had become due, were not submitted by the bodies and authorities of the State
against the Grants-in-aid provided by Fourteen departments. Therefore, there is no assurance
that the amount of `18,734.70 crore has actually been incurred during the financial year for the
purpose for which it was sanctioned/authorised by the Legislature.

	       In addition to this, 29,268 UCs involving `69,312.78 crore due for submission upto
2019-20 were also outstanding as on 31 March 2021. Thus, a total of 34,017 UCs involving
` 88,047.48 crore were due for submission as of March 2021. High pendency of UCs is fraught
with risk of misappropriation of fund and fraud.




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3.	    A total amount of `1,207.02 crore being unspent balances of Grants-in-aid related to
previous years have been deposited under Receipt Heads of accounts operating Minor head
‘913-recovery of unspent balance of Grants-in-aid’ by the State Government during the year
2020-21 instead of reduction of expenditure under expenditure heads of accounts, which was in
contrary to accounting rules. The unspent balances could not be bifurcated between Centrally
Sponsored Schemes and State Schemes due to non-availability of details in digital data of the
State Government.

    The audit observations on the above issues have been detailed in the State Finances Audit 	
Report for the year ended 31 March 2021.




Date : 10 December 2021                              (GIRISH CHANDRA MURMU)
New Delhi		                                     Comptroller and Auditor General of India




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