The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its report titled' Excesses Over Voted Grants And Charged Appropriation (2016-17)' also noted that timely action needs to be taken to ensure that expenditure does not overshoot the limit authorised by Parliament.
According to the report, the committee's examination of the four Appropriation Accounts of the Union Government relating to civil, defence, postal services and railways for the financial year 2016-17 revealed that a total excess expenditure of Rs 1,90,270.18 crore was incurred in 12 cases under seven grants/appropriations.
The panel said it would like to impress upon the ministries concerned to embark upon all possible prudent and effective measures to contain excess expenditure to the barest minimum and honour the prescribed financial propriety.
It asked different ministries to develop a robust mechanism in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) through which expenditure can be strictly monitored.
The PAC, headed by senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, also said the committee is displeased to note that their repeated cautions to the Ministry of Railways have not been able to eliminate misclassification of expenditure in their accounts.
Meanwhile, in another report, the panel said it is dismayed to note that neither the Finance Ministry nor the Ministry of Defence have furnished the findings/recommendations of the high-level committee to curb recurrence of excess expenditure under grants operated by the Ministry of Defence. BKS CS ABM