Govt appoints SFC chairman

Highlights

Telangana government appointed G Rajesam Goud as the Chairman of State Finance Commission after a delay of three and a half year. After the appointment of the Chairman, the rural local bodies saw a ray of hope in getting funds as the commission will determine the share of funds to the local bodies of the State.

Hyderabad: Telangana government appointed G Rajesam Goud as the Chairman of State Finance Commission after a delay of three and a half year. After the appointment of the Chairman, the rural local bodies saw a ray of hope in getting funds as the commission will determine the share of funds to the local bodies of the State.

The State Finance Commission is statutory body which determines the devolution of funds to the local bodies like municipal corporations, municipalities, Zilla Parishads, Mandal Praja Parishads and gram panchayats.

State Finance Commission works on the lines of Central Finance Commission which would divide the funds between the States and the Centre. The CFC will recommend how much funds will be given to the States from the net revenues of the Centre.

In the same way the SFC also recommends funds to be given to the local bodies from the State budget and determines a formula for it. The Commission recommendations are binding on the government and the funds should be released as per them.

After the formation of Telangana State, the government delayed the constitution of State Finance Commission. Several civic organisations, including the Forum for Good Governance approached the High Court following which the court directed the State government to immediately appoint SFC.

As there was no SFC for the past three and half years, the local bodies have not been awarded any funds from the State government directly and they were made to depend on Central funds. With lack of funds, the Zilla Parishads, and Mandal Praja Parishads were unable to take up any activity.

Under the 14th Finance Commission, the Centre had started to release funds directly to the gram panchayats, which deprived ZPs and MPPs of their funds. In the absence of SFC funds, they have suffered severe shortage of funds.

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