Vijayawada: A public interest litigation has been filed in the High Court seeking a direction to the state government to constitute a fifth state finance commission for AP.
Petitioner advocate Venkata Reddy, a TDP member, said that in its absence, the local bodies like gram panchayats and municipalities were not getting funds, affecting their day-to-day functioning.
SFC is mandated to review the financial position of the local bodies while making recommendations to the governor for release of funds to them. The tenure of the fourth SFC was for 2015-20. Even after a lapse of two years since the last SFC’s term ended, the state government did not constitute a new SFC.
This, the petitioner said, was a violation of the constitutional and statutory provisions and guidelines of the 15th Finance Commission.
He said a lack of self-government resulted in the deprival of a legitimate share from the Consolidated Fund of the state to help the civic bodies function effectively.
The respondents are chief secretary, the principal secretary to finance; principal secretary to panchayat raj and principal secretary to municipal administration and urban development.
…
