Former IAS officer to head Haryana Finance Commission

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 24

Former Haryana bureaucrat P Raghavendra Rao will head the Haryana’s sixth State Finance Commission, an institutional mechanism for division of resources between the state government and the Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) and the urban local bodies for a five-year period (2021-22 to 2025-26).

Constituted under Article 243 of the Indian Constitution and the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, the commission has been constituted for tenure of one year with its headquarters at New Delhi. Serving IAS of Haryana cadre Vikas Gupta will be its member-secretary.

A notification issued by Chief Secretary Keshni Anand Arora said the commission would make recommendations on “distribution between state and zila parishads, panchayat samities and gram panchayats of the net proceeds of taxes, duties, tolls and fees leviable by state”.

Besides, it will also take a final call on the determination of taxes, tolls and fees which may be assigned to the PRIs and the urban local bodies. It will also decide various forms grants-in-aids to the PRIs and civic bodies from the consolidated fund of the state.

Meanwhile, the commission will also decide on the mechanism for the devolution of resources to the urban local bodies with the ultimate aim of improving their fiscal position.

The other objective of the commission would be balancing the receipts and expenditure of the state and generating surplus capital investment.