Civic body to file fiscal reports in a few months

New municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar assured the corporator that the civic body would be filing the pending fiscal reports within the next few months.

New municipal commissioner Subodh Kumar assured the corporator that the civic body would be filing the pending fiscal reports within the next few months.

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A special general body meeting was called on Wednesday to discuss the civic administration’s failure to submit the balance sheets (statement of income and expenditure) for auditing for the past three years.

Congress corporator Shivji Singh alleged: “Corruption is the key reason for not submitting the civic balance sheet since 2007-08.”

Kumar, however, played safe. Neither accepting nor denying the corruption allegations, he assured the corporators that the civic body would check if any misuse of public money had occurred.

The new civic chief said: “We will submit the 2007-08 balance sheet by the end of this month. The year 2008-09 balancesheet will be submitted before March 31 and 2009-10 by May-end. At the same time, we are targeting July-end for the updated fiscal report.”

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been receiving flak for not presenting its balance sheet for auditing. This means the means municipal auditor has been unable to point out any irregularities or violations that have taken place.

Kumar said: “It is not deliberate. The reason behind the delay is the new accounting system, which was made mandatory for all corporations to follow.”

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had also criticised the BMC for fiscal indiscipline in the winter session of the state legislature.

The Ruling Shiv Sena-BJP had appointed a sub-committee of five corporators to inquire why the civic body had failed to present the reports.

“Not a single meeting has been held after the sub-committee was formed,” said one of the sub-committee member and Nationalist Congress Party corporator Niyaz Vanu.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashish Shelar said that as the head of the municipal corporation, the municipal commissioner was responsible for the delay.