Telangana Governor’s intervention sought for releasing State Finance Commission recommendations and actions taken

Forum for Good Governance says no action has been taken on SFC recommendations submitted a few years ago

The Forum for Good Governance has sought the intervention of Governor Jishnu Dev Varma to direct Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari to seek reports prepared by the State Finance Commission and table it in the winter session of the Legislative Assembly along with the action plan report.

In a memorandum submitted to the Governor, FGG president M. Padmanabha Reddy said the government constituted the State Finance Commission (SFC) in March 2015, and it was for the Governor to ensure that every recommendation made by the SFC, along with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken on them, to be laid before the State Legislature.

The panel had accordingly sent its report to the Governor after studying the financial position of the rural and urban local bodies. The Governor’s office had in turn forwarded it to the government, seeking action on the recommendations made by it besides tabling the action taken report in the Legislature.

It was very unfortunate that the government had not taken any action on the SFC recommendations and not placed a single report in the State Legislature. “Nobody knows the recommendations of the SFC and the action taken by the government on them,” he lamented.

The situation comes at a time when the XV Finance Commission, which releases grants directly to gram panchayats, had categorically said that “no grants will be released to local bodies of a state after March 2024 if the state does not constitute the SFC and acts upon its recommendations”. The government had not released any fund to gram panchayats in the past two years while the Centre had not given grants. “Panchayats are not getting funds either from the State or from the Centre,” he said.

Published - December 12, 2024 07:03 pm IST