Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday called for a stronger financial framework for urban and rural local bodies, stressing the need for a disciplined state fiscal path and durable fiscal institutions to ensure financial sustainability and effective grassroots governance.Chairing a meeting with the newly constituted 7th Punjab Finance Commission, CM Mann said, “The Commission has been constituted to make specific recommendations for the distribution of taxes, duties, road tax and others among the panchayats/municipalities and the state, in addition to recommending ways to improve the fiscal health of these civic bodies.”“The Commission is a constitutional instrument for ensuring fiscal decentralisation to Panchayati Raj institutions and municipalities. It seeks to ensure that the grassroots institutions created under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment have the financial capacity to discharge their responsibilities effectively,” he added.Mann said the Commission had the mandate to recommend how the net proceeds of state-leviable taxes, duties, tolls and fees should be distributed between the state and the panchayats/municipalities.
