Lucknow, Aug. 14 -- The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has questioned the Uttar Pradesh government's budget management procedures and pointed out deviations from the prescribed budgetary and accounting processes in the state. Listing issues with budget management, the CAG has pointed out lapses in the regularisation of excess expenditure, classification of expenditure as revenue and capital, lump sum budgetary provisions, discrepancies in the depiction of centrally sponsored schemes, budget projections and gap between planning and execution. Under the provisions of Article 205 (1)(b) of the Constitution of India, if excess money has been spent on any service in a financial year, the governor shall cause to be laid before the state legislative assembly a demand for such excesses. "Excess disbursements amounting to Rs 32,533.56 crore under 104 grants and 49 appropriations pertaining to the years 2005-2006 to 2023-2024 are yet to be regularised by the state legislature," the CAG said in its report on the State Finances for 2023-24. The report was tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday. The CAG report pointed out misclassification between revenue and capital expenditure and as a result of misclassification of revenue expenditure as capital expenditure the revenue surplus was overstated by Rs 283.39 crore in 2023-2024. The CAG report observed that lump sum provisions should not, as a rule, be made in the estimates except when the expenditure out of lump sum allotments is regulated by standing sanctions, instructions or rules. "During the year 2023-2024, lump sum provisions of Rs 11,022.30 crore crore were made under various heads of 17 grants without indicating scheme details. Out of these lump sum provisions, actual expenditure of Rs 6474.16 crore (58.74 per cept of the provisions) was incurred," the CAG report said. There have been discrepancies in the depiction of centrally sponsored schemes, the report said, noting that in the case of 22 programmes under the centrally sponsored schemes the specified funding pattern (central share, state share and financial institution) was not mentioned. The CAG report also observed, "During 2023-2024, actual expenditure was Rs 5,84,110.09 crore against provision of Rs 7,72,484.07 crore. The overall savings of Rs 1,78,373.98 crore were 23.39 percent of total provision." The CAG report said the budgetary provisions increased consistently during the period while actual utilisation remained in the range of 73% to 77% between 2019-2024. The CAG recommended that the state finance department should review the reasons for grants/appropriations remaining unutilised and take steps to make more judicious budget provisions in future. It also suggested that the reappropriations should be based on careful assessment of fund requirements....