The performance grant recommended by the 14 th Finance Commission was not released to Tamil Nadu for the award years 2017-18 to 2019-20 as duly elected local bodies, as stipulated by the Commission, were not in place for most of these years, Union Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary has informed the Parliament in response to questions raised by DMK Rajya Sabha MP P. Wilson.
The MP sought to know why the Ministry had not released the balance of performance grant allocated to Tamil Nadu under the 14 th Finance Commission even though all conditions had been complied with.
“Guidelines on the operationalisation of the 14 th Finance Commission recommendations on local bodies stipulate that a duly constituted local body means where elections have been held and an elected body is in place, as provided in Part IX and IXA of the Constitution,” the Minister said.
Based on the proposal submitted by the States for State-specific grants, the 15 th Finance Commission has recommended grants to meet some special obligations of regional and national concern, he said. For the years, 2022-23 and 2023-24, Tamil Nadu has been recommended a grant of ₹440 crore each and ₹660 crore each for 2024-25 and 2025-26, totalling ₹2,200 crore.
