The State Government has issued detailed guidelines for timely spending of the budgetary grants out of the Vote on Account Budget for the financial year 2022-23.

Principal Secretary, Finance, Vishal Dev has issued the guidelines for spending on the interim budget through implementation of Cash Management System (CMS) in the selected departments through Quarterly Expenditure Allocation (QEA) for the first quarter and Monthly Expenditure Plan (MEP) till July, 2022.

In March this year, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari had presented the Vote on Account of Rs 1,06,498 crore for the first four months of 2022 23 fiscal and announced a total budget outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore for the current financial year.

The Cash Management System was initially adopted in respect of the 10 Demand for Grants administered by large spending departments during the financial year 2010-11. Thereafter, it has been extended to 10 more departments from 2011-12 to 2017-18. All these 20 departments will also continue to remain under the purview of Cash Management System in 2022-23.

The departments are Works, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare, School & Mass Education, ST and SC Development, Health and Family Welfare, Housing and Urban Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, Industries, Water Resources, Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Agriculture amd Farmers’ Empowerment, Rural Development, Energy, Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development, Women and Child Development, Higher Education, Skill Development and Technical Education, MSME, Department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities.

These departments have been asked to work out a monthly expenditure plan (MEP) on the basis of the QEA. The Finance Department has also provided an online platform to the departments to update their QEA and MEP in the Budget Execution Technique Automation (BETA) system for the year 2021-22 so as to ensure effective monitoring of monthly and quarterly expenditure patterns.

The departments were also directed to update their QEA for the first quarter and MEP for the month from April to July in the online system.

“The limit of expenditure indicated for the first quarter and for the month of July is the minimum; however, the Administrative Departments are free to enhance the MEP and QEA for their respective departments within the overall limit indicated in the Voted, Charged, Revenue and Capital section of the Vote on Account and in line with the broad principles outlined by the Finance Department,” Dev said in the circular.

However, the QEA for the first quarter and MEP for the month of July should not be modified by the Administrative Departments without prior approval of the Finance Department.

Dev made it clear that the expenditure for the continuing Central Sector Schemes/Centrally Sponsored Schemes out of the Vote on Account, 2022-23, only should be considered in accordance with the QEA for the first quarter and MEP for the month of July, 2022, subject to the limit of Vote on Account and receipt of Central assistance.