Maharashtra ranks seventh among 10 States in a study of transparency in State budgets released in February.
The State plan does not provide much information on the Scheduled Caste sub-plan and does not share details of government strategies and programmes for the development of the Scheduled Castes.
The study was conducted by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), New Delhi, and Samarthan, Maharashtra, in collaboration with other organisations. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh were selected for the study, an attempt at gauging government practices and processes. The scope for budget transparency refers to the openness of the budget process and the scope for public involvement in this process, the report said.
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Researchers looked at reports of various types since 2007-08 and circulated questionnaires to the government and people's representatives. Gujarat comes first in the overall budget transparency, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The study has ranked States on the basis of the availability of budget documents, completeness of the information, facilitating understanding of this information, timeliness of information, audit and performance assessment, scope for legislative scrutiny, practices relating to budgeting for disadvantaged sections and fiscal decentralisation.
The report concludes that all State governments need to adopt a wide range of practices and processes to improve public access to budget information and develop strategies to make these documents available to the public. They should also bring out a key to budget documents, a separate statement on funds received from the Centre or external agencies, a statement on revenue foregone due to tax concessions and an action taken report on the observations of the Comptroller and Auditor-General on the budget.
The report also advises governments to hold consultations with legislators on the demands submitted by the State to the Finance Commission and the Planning Commission and present detailed information on fund allocations to the Scheduled Caste sub-plan, tribal sub-plan, women's component plan, besides presenting disaggregated information on devolution of funds from the State budget to the local bodies and a district-wise breakup of allocations and expenditures in the budget.
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While Maharashtra has constituted a State Finance Commission (SFC) at regular intervals, it does not make public the memoranda submitted by the State to the Finance Commission or the Planning Commission, the report says.
It also provides for a district-wise break-up of allocations and expenditures of the plan budget.
However, it does not present the action taken report or the recommendations of the SFC to the legislature; when it does, it is delayed. The executive does not hold consultations with representatives of the rural and urban local bodies while formulating the budget.
Maharashtra's budget documents do not provide information on the district-wise break-up of the non-plan allocations and expenditures. There is no information on women's component plan or gender budgeting, and there is no separate statement for the Scheduled Caste sub-plan.
Furthermore, it does not share complete information on funds received by the State from the Central government or external agencies which are routed outside the State treasury and not reflected in the budget.
The State government does not release to the public any report on the steps taken to address audit observations, for example, in the CAG reports, or give information on revenues foregone due to tax concessions.
The positives, the report says, are that Maharashtra's treasury is linked to the Internet and detailed information on receipts and disbursements are provided on a monthly basis.
All CAG reports are made public in a timely manner, and there is a district-specific economic survey and separate documents with district-wise allocations and information on the tribal sub-plan.