Kathmandu, July 28: Chief Secretary Eknarayan Aryal along with secretaries of most of the ministries, constitutional commissions and agencies have pressured for exploring alternative outlet to the settlement of arrears while asserting it is not possible to clear the dues prior to that of the federalism implementation.
The Public Accounts Committee under the House of Representatives (HoR) on Monday held a discussion with all the accounts responsible officers about the status of arrears settlement.
During the discussion, secretaries pitched for the idea of navigating alternative measures arguing that the federal government ministries have been bearing the brunt of arrears of the agencies despite scrapping of several structures and delegation of responsibilities to the local level following the implementation of federalism.
Audit General Toyam Raya and Chief Secretary Aryal opined that the irregular arrears except from the dues prior to the constitution implementation cannot be settled.
“The previous structure of District Development Committee has been scrapped. There is no information where and how their files are kept. But, their arrears are maintained at federal ministry. Arrears which are to be settled however should not be left. The theoretical arrears need to be cornered through a decision”, Chief Secretary Aryal said, adding the arrears could also not be settled practically.
“Some separate decisions need to be done for the settlement of arrear dues. It is not possible to regularize the arrears before 2015 – the year the Constitution was promulgated”, Aryal noted.
Auditor General Toyam Raya echoed the argument of the Chief Secretary that the bureaucracy could not address the arrears produced from the audit before 2015.
AG Raya said, “After listening to the Chief Secretary and Secretaries, it sounds convincing for me as well to dismiss the irregular arrears prior to the 2015. There is no clarity whether or not the documents of the offices transferred to the local level are kept at province and local levels. We should do some ground works to give it an outlet”.
It may be noted that the PAC has demanded an action plan with 13-point question from all line ministries, constitutional commissions and agencies to furnish information about the status of arrears and measures being placed to settle the arrears.
The 62nd Annual Report-2082 of the Office of the Auditor General has come up with the arrears amounting around Rs 733 billion 191 million – determined after carrying out audit of the federal government offices, province government office, local level and institutions.
