Till date, not a single annual report of Gujarat State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC) has been tabled before the Gujarat Assembly. Taking note of this, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House has recommended that the Rural Development Department fix responsibility of the official concerned and take action.
The recommendation is part of the third report of the PAC — dated March 18, 2025 — tabled in the state Assembly Friday.
The PAC is headed by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator and former minister Jitendra Vaghani, known as Jitu Vaghani, with 14 other MLAs as members.
Under the provisions of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, it is mandatory for the state government to form SEGC. As the PAC report mentions, SEGC is meant to supervise the implementation of the rural employment guarantee scheme in the state.
The report notes, “In November 2008, the state government had framed rules of SEGC. Under that, after a delay of four years, SEGC was formed (in 2012). Moreover, as per rules, the SEGC’s meeting has to be held minimum twice in a year and an annual report of the scheme’s implementation has to be prepared and tabled in the Assembly.”
Referring to a report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India of 2011-12, the PAC has noted that till March 2012, the SEGC had held only three meetings.
In its written reply to queries raised by the PAC, as recorded in the report, the department had informed that the formation of SEGC was delayed owing to time spent in appointing the members.
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Later, in the meeting of the PAC, a representative of the department had informed the House panel that currently, SEGC is holding meetings without non-government members. The file on appointing non-government members has been presented before the state government and is under consideration, it added.
On being asked about regular annual reports not being submitted before the Assembly, the department representative said that the report will be presented in the next session of the House.
“The committee recommends to ensure that the meetings of the SEGC, which has been formed to supervise MGNREGA Scheme, are held, as fixed by the rules, and its annual reports are placed before the Assembly every year regularly without fail,” the PAC noted in its report.
It further recommended that “responsibility of the concerned official in connection with non-submission of a single annual report of the council till today” be fixed, action taken at the department’s secretary level, and the committee be informed about the same.
