T’puram: Kerala govt has tightened monitoring of loans sanctioned to its institutions, making proper utilisation and accounting of previous loans a prerequisite for fresh loans. Statutory corporations, govt firms, autonomous bodies, grant-in-aid institutions, PSUs and other entities that received govt loans will not be able to seek fresh assistance until utilisation certificates, bills and vouchers related to earlier loans are verified and approved by the department concerned.Govt’s latest instructions are intended to ensure that institutions account for public money before seeking more financial aid. They put the responsibility on the loanee institutions to establish how the money was spent, support the claim with records and explain any unspent or unaccounted balance.As per a finance department circular issued on Aug 17, institutions will have to submit details of the utilisation and repayment of previous loans, along with utilisation certificates, bills and vouchers. The department concerned will examine the submissions before a fresh loan proposal from the same institution is taken up.The documents may be submitted for the entire loan amount or a part of it. If an institution accounts for only a portion of the loan, it will have to explain why the balance remains with it or why the utilisation certificate and supporting documents for the remaining amount have not been furnished.Govt has directed institutions to submit utilisation details for the entire loan amount before the end of the permitted utilisation period. If the documents remain pending after the deadline, a subsequent loan proposal will be considered only after the missing details are submitted and cleared by the department concerned.The verification will involve two levels of scrutiny within the administrative department. An officer will first examine the details, verify them or raise objections. The submission will then be placed before officials for a final decision.Institutions will be able to correct and resubmit records if objections are raised. The status of each submission—including whether it has been approved, rejected or is pending with the approving authority—will also be available for monitoring.Govt introduced the loan monitoring and fund management system in Dec 2021 to track loans sanctioned to various entities, their utilisation and repayment, but it failed to yield the intended results. The latest instructions are supposed to augment that mechanism by linking future financial aid to proper accounting of earlier loans. The finance department has directed all administrative departments and institutions to comply with the revised procedure.
