The vexatious issue of local bodies not paying their bills to service providers such as Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) is among the three new issues to be addressed specifically by the 6th State Finance Commission (SFC) that has been set up under the chairmanship of retired bureaucrat Mohan Pyare.
Local bodies, both urban and rural, have also been found to be have outstanding bills with the Tamil Nadu Water Supply & Drainage Board (TWAD) and Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) for water charges. As the service providers have been facing severe financial problems, they have been representing to the government that many of their financial woes can be resolved if the local bodies make timely payments towards electricity and water charges.
As done in the past, the Commission will go into the entire subject of devolution between the State government and local bodes, apart from identifying measures needed to improve the financial position of the local bodies and new avenues for resources mobilisation.
As for the other two new issues, the Commission is required to suggest ways to strengthen the service delivery capacities of local body administration to enable them to effectively discharge their roles and responsibilities and examine the possibility of providing devolution to Cantonment Boards from out of the Consolidated Fund of the State.
The Commission is expected to present its report by July 31 ,2021 covering the period of five years commencing on April 1, 2022, according to a gazette notification issued earlier this month
The SFC will include C.V. Sekar, Pattukottai legislator, Commissioner of Municipal Administration and Directors of Town Panchayats and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj as members.
Mr. Pyare is the second retired officer to head the SFC after R. Arumugam, who headed the first Commission in the mid-1990s. All other chairpersons for the second, third, fourth and fifth SFCs respectively — Sukavaneshvar, M.A Gowrishankar, K. Phanindra Reddy and S. Krishnan — were all serving officers at the time of their appointment. Mr. Reddy and Mr. Krishnan are still in service.
