Finance panel mum on Special category status

Amaravati: Fifteenth Finance Commission chairman NK Singh has made it clear that the 14th Finance Commission did not obstruct sanction of special category status to Andhra Pradesh and that when it comes to his panel, he cannot speak on it as it is not part of its terms of reference.

Replying to a question at a news conference here on Thursday, Singh said: “SCS doesn’t form part of terms of reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission. We would not like to cross the mandate as laid down in the notification."

Singh, after holding meetings with the state government, various political parties and other stake-holders, said that he would not make any comment on central government the denial of SCS to Andhra Pradesh. He, however, expressed concern over the problems the reorganised state has been facing after bifurcation.

"I was in Rajya Sabha when the AP State Reorganisation Bill, 2014 was being passed. I was in favour of the bill at that time but all the same I am sensitive to the demands of the people of AP," he said. Referring to SCS issue, he said that the 14th Finance Commission had nothing to do with it.

The special category status (SCS) originally took birth in National Development Council and the Gadgil- Mukherjee formula. It was first accorded to Assam and Jammu & Kashmir and later it was extended to North Eastern States.

"During Atal Bihari Vajpayee rule, SCS was granted to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand," Singh said. He pointed out that implementation of SCS was undertaken by Planning Commission in conjunction with Ministry of Finance. 

When asked about central government’s claim that the 14th Finance Commission had suggested against granting SCS to any state going forward, he said: “I do not want to make any comment on central government on what they did and why they did. But what I can say is that the 14th Finance Commission was not in favour of categorisation of states. It only examined the fiscal position of the states”.

Referring to the pleas of the state to the 15 Finance Commission, he said that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu explained the problems the state was facing after the division of the state. Assets were divided on the basis of location and liabilities shared on basis of population. The promises made in the Act had not been fulfilled by central government”.

Reacting to the plea for consideration of 1971 census for devolution of funds as demanded by the state government, Singh said they had to abide by the ToR which suggest that we should use 2011 census. At the same time, he maintained that Commission would not penalise performing states, which had effectively implemented population measures. He said that the Commission would use census data in an innovative manner.

He was all praise for Naidu for adopting technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics to help economic surge in future. Improved governance, enhanced life quality, citizen empowerment and other initiatives of state government are very impressive. He said his commission is committed for not only consideration, but also to give maximum possible room for development of state, within the constitutional framework.

He said that the Cess and Surcharge were not part of the divisible pool, hence the Commission would not be able to recommend sharing them between the Centre and states. At the same time, he said that the demand would be deliberated upon.