Disregard for the law has been commonplace at the local level. An example is the failure to table the budget on the June 24 schedule
-Krishna Acharya : Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal
Kathmandu- The Local Government Operation Act-2074 and the Government Finance Management Act-2074 required the local governments across the country to present their budgets within June 24. Among the 753 local federal units in total, 387 or a half flouted the laws by not presenting their budgets to the village or municipal council within the deadline.
According to the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, even if some local governments tabled their budgets after the deadline, 40 per cent of them are still preparing their fiscal plans. The defaulters include not only the rural municipalities, municipalities and sub-metropolitan cities but also a metropolitan city. People’s representatives and staffers at Lalitpur Metropolitan City were on a tour of Japan from June 21 to 26. The seven-member team led by Deputy Mayor Gita Basyal was touring Japan on the day the metropolis was supposed to table its budget. But Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan did not agree that the budget was delayed by the visit.
“We were not in a position to present the budget on the 24th even if they were here,” he said, blaming technical reasons. He explained the technical reason as: “We found that works started without tender earlier in areas generating revenues,” said Maharjan. “It took time to sort this out. We could not bring out the budget without deciding on tender for the major source of income.”
Service seekers consulting with service providers at Lalitpur Metropolitan City. Photo : Ashok Dulal
Local councils that did not present the budget despite knowledge and capacity for its timely preparation number dozens. Pokhariya Municipality in Parsa is a case in point. “We were aware of the law, but we failed to come up with the budget due to our business in development works,” said Mayor Dipnarayan Prasad Rauniyar. Nor did the elected officials and staffers of Bigu Rural Municipality in Dolakha not know about the legal obligation. “Why rush the budget?” village Chairman Yudhisthir Khadka asked. “There is no fine to pay for failing to present the budget on the 24th.”
Responses of the local representatives prove that they are not serious about performing their activities as per the law. Former finance secretary Shanta Raj Subedi warned that fiscal indiscipline will grow in the future when local governments give rise to such irresponsible activities.
“There will be problems in the days to come when they set the precedent of violating the law on any pretext,” said Subedi. “The executive can deliberately delay the budget next year arguing that the fiscal estimates were delayed the previous year too.”
According to the Local Government Operation Act, the budget is passed after deliberation at the village or the municipal council within 15 days of tabling it or is sent back to the executive for revision if there are differences. The budget has to be passed compulsorily within the next week or by the fiscal year end. But when budget tabling does not meet the deadline, there will be time constraints for deliberation and amendment while the provisions proposed in the last hour could be arbitrary, according to Subedi. “The budget passed in a rush without discussion will faces problems in implementation from the very first day of the new year,” said Subedi. In several local units of remote areas, the local situation is also responsible for the delayed budget. People of Surma Rural Municipality in Bajhang have left in hordes for picking the Yarchagumba aphrodisiac. Local government chief Nar Bahadur Bohara said the requiring budget presentation on June 24 has created troubles for them.
While some local representatives have deliberately delayed budget, elected officials in remote areas are confused how to prepare the budget. Some local units have no officials who can prepare budget. At Kamalbazaar Municipality of Achham, the under-secretary-level chief administrative officer is manned by an assistant health worker of the public health office. “Since there was no deputation of official from the Centre, we have made him the acting CAO,” said Deputy Mayor Bhumi Sharan Dhakal, explaining the delay for budget formulation. She hopes that the budget may be ready within two weeks from the deadline. No local government admits that budget formulation is delayed by a dispute between the chief, deputy chief and political parties of the local government but a reason for failure to present the budget on time is inter-party conflicts in many local units.
Executive director Bimal Poudel of the National Federation of Rural Municipality in Nepal said most village councils had no idea about the legal provisions. “Budget may not have come on time in some places but most local units have made optimum use of the constitutional and legal provisions,” he said. “This practice in the first year should be viewed positively.”
Secretary Dinesh Thapaliya at the Federal Affairs and General Administration Ministry outlines four reasons for the failure to present budget on time. The first cause of delayed budget is inter-party conflict, second staff crunch and the third conflict while sharing the budget. “In many local units, the mayor and deputy mayor belong to two different parties. Their partisan interests don’t match.” Most local units have scheduled budget presentation 7 to 12 days before the end of fiscal year.
