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Orissa empowers village councils to audit welfare schemes

Orissa has empowered gram sabhas [village committees] in the state to audit at regular intervals the rural development works being carried out by the government in their areas, a senior official of the state panchayati raj department told rediff.com on Friday.

The gram sabha will also conduct a social audit of all the funds released by the Union rural development ministry, including funds for food and employment schemes, and any discrepancies will be brought to the notice of the implementing authority.

For the audit, a tenth of the gram sabha's members and 33 per cent of the workers listed on its rolls must be present. In case there is no quorum, the meeting will be adjourned to a future date and the second meeting will not need a quorum, the official said.

He said the panchayat (village council) would issue 'utilisation certificates' only after its gram sabha had adopted a majority resolution recording its satisfaction with the works done.

The state government has taken this decision on the basis of a recent Supreme Court directive, he said, which has been sent to all district collectors.

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