Accounts worth ₹2 lakh crore unaudited in 8 Gujarat municipal corporations

The financial management of Gujarat’s municipal corporations seems to have crumbled as accounts worth a total of ₹2 lakh crore lie unaudited in eight corporations, including Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

Between 2000 and 2005, the 11th Central Finance Commission had directed the municipal corporations to undergo regular audits, stating that audit reports should be sent to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), and after approval, present it in the Legislative Assembly. 

Moreover, a resolution passed by the Finance Department in 2005 has been ignored, and no action has been taken for six years.

Information obtained under RTI revealed that in Ahmedabad, as well as Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Surat, and Vadodara municipal corporations, accounts have not been audited for six to seven years. 

In Amdavad Municipal Corporation, accounts were audited only from 2010-11 to 2017-18. Since then, no audits have been conducted. For the last eight years, accounts worth ₹50,000 crore have not been audited.

In practice, financial audit reports are presented to the municipal board, where elected representatives discuss them, audit objections are raised, and actions are taken accordingly.

Had the prescribed procedures been adhered to, these irregularities would have been uncovered, thereby enhancing transparency in municipal administration. The core concern lies in the fact that municipal corporations in Gujarat are mandated to undergo annual audits, yet persistent delays in conducting them raise significant apprehensions about accountability and governance.