Social and Performance Audit Authority (SPAA)

Subject :Polity

In a first of its kind, Rajasthan government has set up a Social and Performance Audit Authority (SPAA) to ensure accountability in delivery of government schemes and programmes.
Naresh Kumar Thakral, Secretary, Finance (Expenditure), who has been made the Commissioner of the authority, said that under SPAA, audits of government schemes will be undertaken on two counts: social and performance.
Social audit will be undertaken along the lines of social audit in MGNREGA.
For performance audit, SPAA will engage personnel from Valuation Wing under the Planning Department as well as the Department of Treasuries and Accounts.

About Social Audit

Social Audit is the audit of a scheme jointly by the Government and the people, especially by those who are affected by the scheme or its beneficiaries.
Social audit is different from financial audits which involve inspecting and assessing documents related to financial transactions in an organization to provide a true picture of its profits, losses and financial stability.

Social Audit and MGNREGA:

Under Section 17 of the MGNREGA, all works executed under the program must undergo a social audit.
Every Social Audit Unit is entitled to funds equivalent to 0.5% of the MNREGA expenditure incurred by the State in the previous year.
The audit involves quality checks of infrastructure created under the MNREGA, financial misappropriation in wages, and checking for any procedural deviations.
The report titled ‘Social audit calendar vs audits completed’ was released recently by the Union Rural Development Ministry (MoRD) highlights that only 14.29% of the planned audits have been completed in 2021-2022.
The Ministry also held that failure to carry out a social audit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by states will invite action, including withholding of funds.
However, it is the Centre that bears the administrative cost of these Social Audit Units, and the inordinate delay in the release of funds has left many of these cash-strapped units nearly paralysed.