AUDITING OF LOCAL BODIES
About Local Self Governance and its Audit:
- 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 added Part IX (Eleventh Schedule) and IX-A (Twelfth Schedule) which contains provisions on local self-governance.
- It mandated that State governments constitute panchayats (at village, block and district levels) and municipalities (in form of municipal corporations, municipal councils and nagar panchayats) in every region.
- In 2020, Ministry of Panchayati Raj developed Audit Online application to conduct online audit of panchayat accounts. .
- It has been awarded the World Summit on Information Society Prizes 2023 at International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Geneva.
Constitutional Provisions:
- Article 243 G: Enshrines the basic principle for devolution of power to Local Bodies.
- Article 243J: Legislature of a State may, by law, make provisions with respect to maintenance of accounts by Panchayats and auditing of such accounts.
- Article 243 Z: Legislature of a State may, by law, make provisions with respect to maintenance of accounts by Municipalities and the auditing of such accounts.