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However, the same August 2019 notification from the Finance Minister says that upon request, the full discretionary amount per annum can be considered by respective agencies.Ī source said that this provision was put in after pressure was put by MPs who wanted the entire amount at the beginning of the year. The minister said that there is prudence on the allotment of the grants and the MoF has advised budgetary agencies to give it on a pro-rata basis. Lyonpo said that in the case of Dzongdas, they are the representative of His Majesty and the CEOs of the Dzongkhags and so they must have a budget to entertain guests. On the bills, the minister said that anyone can produce bills and so it may not serve what the RAA wants. He said that due to constraints on the current budget and problems with TA/DA the Speaker has devised a mechanism where MPs will get paid TA/DA only for 21 to 22 days a year and rest of the time will be on their expense.
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Lyonpo said that the 150,000 grant for MPs is used while going to constituency visits which is twice a year. Lyonpo said the grant was never audited before. However, he said that as per the definition of the Pay Revision Act of Bhutan 2019 the discretionary grant is discretionary and up to the discretion of that person. The Finance Minister Namgay Tshering said that he does not want to say the RAA is wrong or right as it is a Constitutional Body. The notification of the RAA is leading to differences of opinion with the Ministry of Finance and the MPs. It asked agencies to look into such cases and discourage payment of an entire year’s grant in one lump sump. RAA also pointed out the practice of people taking the entire grant at the begging of the budget year, and so when there is a transfer or separation in the middle of the financial year then the outgoing official takes the entire grant and there is nothing left for the incoming officials. It has been noted that there are cases where the grant is not even fully utilized for soleras or other activities and it is treated as personal income, especially since it goes into the savings accounts of those officials getting it. The allowance would not have been audited as it was being taxed and so was equal to the income of the MPs. However, after they did so then the RAA stepped in to announce it can be audited. So in the Pay Revision (Amendment) Act of 2020 the MPs voted to change this allowance back into a grant to avoid paying tax on it. This meant that it became taxable like any other allowance which caused an uproar among MPs who pointed to past MPs who did not have to pay tax on the grant. This was communicated through an August 2019 notification. Ironically, in mid 2019 the Pay Revision Act of Bhutan 2019 had converted the Discretionary Grant of the Ministers and MPs into Discretionary Allowance. The notification says that where documents are not available, they are required to at least maintain the expenditure statements, and so henceforth any expenses from the grant without supporting documents will remain recoverable into the Audit Recoveries Account. “Therefore, while the mode of expenses (where, how and when) will remain at the discretion of the individual public servants, they are required to maintain proper documents for all expenses made from the discretionary grant,” it says. It says accordingly all expenses from the discretionary grant commencing July 2021 shall be audited by the RAA. It says as per the Audit Act of Bhutan 2018 any form of grant is subject to audit by the RAA. The RAA notification says that with the adoption of the Pay Revision (Amendment) Act of 2020, the Discretionary Allowance has been changed to Discretionary Grant. If they cannot show proper documents and statements on how the grant was spent, then the RAA will recover the amount from them. With this audit Ministers, MPs and Dzongdas for the first time will have to show bills and statements for how they spend this annual grant and they will no longer be allowed to treat it as a part of their income. The Royal Audit Authority (RAA) in a notification issued on 1st July 2021 announced its intention to audit the discretionary grant given to ministers (Nu 200,000 per year), MPs (Nu 150,000 per year) and Dzongdas (Nu 75,000 per year).