As West Bengal is heading for its three-tier panchayat polls next year, a major financial irregularity has been detected in the annual statement of expenditures of the different zilla parishads in the state.

As per the statements of expenditures for different zilla parishads and autonomous bodies maintained by the state Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Department for the financial year 2021-22, the latest available on this count, records of five zilla parishads do not exist.

So is the case for the state’s major autonomous council in the hills of Darjeeling, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). The records of the other zilla parishads are also not updated.

As per the West Bengal Panchayat Act, 1973, all the zilla parishads, the highest tier in the three-tier panchayat system, are required to maintain their monthly statement of expenses with the state Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Department.

Currently, there are 19 zilla parishads in West Bengal, out of which the statement of expenses for five — Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Nadia, Kalimpong, and Jhargram — are totally missing in the accounts of the state panchayat and rural affairs department for 2021-22.

Again, out of the remaining zilla parishads, there are many such whose records of statements of expenditures are not updated till March 31, 2022.

Some of these important zilla parishads include East Burdwan, Malda, Hooghly, and South 24 Parganas.

A department official said the department sends alerts to all the zilla parishads at regular intervals to send updated statements of expenditure. “Despite that some zilla parishads adopt lackadaisical approaches in updating the records,” he said.

Newly-appointed Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Minister, Pradip Majumdar was not available for his comments on this count. Minister of State Becharam Manna said that he was unable to comment without cross-checking the records.

The department official further said that like the zilla parishads, the panchayat samitis, the second tier of the three tier panchayat system, are also supposed to maintain their monthly statement of expenses with the Panchayat Affairs and Rural Development Department.

“Now, when the zilla parishads are so irregular on this count, the conditions of the panchayat samitis are easily understandable. One reason behind such irregular records is that the majority of the zilla parishads are not able to spend even 50 per cent of the funds allotted to them for rural development,” he said.