Delay In Appointing Ombudsman Among Reasons; State Cries Foul
The delay in constituting an ombudsman in Tamil Nadu for local bodies appears to have starved them of funds from the Centre.Minister of state for urban development Babul Supriyo recently told the Rajya Sabha that only nine states were eligible for `457.91 crore in performance grants for urban local bodies in 2014-15.
Uttar Pradesh received the maximum of `146.46 crore followed by Madhya Pradesh (``74.11 crore), Rajas `59.23 crore).than (` The 13th finance commission had set nine conditions, including appointment of an ombudsman, constituting a property tax board, tabling annual report of the director of local fund audit, empower ing urban local bodies to levy property tax and fire hazard response and mitigation plan, for availing of the grant. States like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Punjab which met eight of the nine conditions have not received any funds. While Babul Supriyo said the state had met only two of the nine essential terms, state officials dis agreed, saying they followed all rules except in the appointment of an ombudsman.
“There seems to be some mistake in the selection process. We met all the criteria except the delay in the constitution of the ombudsman. It's unfair that the Centre rejected several deserving states that met the criteria,“ an official said.
In April, after the end of the 2014-15 financial year, the TN government appointed S Ayyar, a retired IAS officer, as the ombudsman for local bodies despite opposition from activists who alleged he was a political nominee.
Experts say the state government should have communicated to the Centre in advance about the errors in the selection process for grant of funds. Siva Elango, an RTI activist, said the purpose of the finance commission was not being served.“The state government doesn't want an independent ombudsman as it will prevent corruption in local bodies. There is also no effective property tax board in the state to revise the tax. Most local bodies in the state have not even released their local fund audit reports,“ he said.
Sources say most of the 12 municipal corporations, 124 municipalities and 528 town panchayats in the state face a severe financial crunch as property tax, their major income, has not been revised for several years.
