Routine Grant-in-Aid Works Should not be Routed to MHA for Approval: Bishnu Pada Ray
Sri Vijaya Puram, Dec. 22: Shri Bishnu Pada Ray, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, has taken up a serious issue affecting the functioning, autonomy and constitutional mandate of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Municipal bodies in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
The Hon’ble MP has written to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, the Hon’ble Union Home Minister, and the Hon’ble Union Finance Minister, seeking urgent clarification and corrective directions regarding the recent interpretation and implementation of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules (DFPR)-2024, particularly Rule 3(j) and Rule 3(m), as being applied to development works proposed by PRIs/Municipal bodies.
As per the UT Administration’s reference to the Ministry of Home Affairs vide letter dated 14.11.2025, it is being conveyed that proposals relating to new projects/schemes of PRIs, Municipal Council and other Autonomous Bodies in A&N Islands, if funded through Central Government grants, would require prior appraisal and approval of the MHA. Based on this, the UT Administration has now extended the same requirement even to routine PRI/Municipal works undertaken out of the yearly Grant-in-Aid funds released from the UT Budget under the Grant-in-Aid Rules, 2012.
Shri Bishnu Pada Ray stated that such an approach will severely disrupt grassroots development, because PRIs and Municipal bodies are being restrained from independently sanctioning and executing even routine works such as rural roads, footpaths, culverts, drains, retaining walls, playground development, tree/earth cutting and other minor infrastructure works. These works generally fall within the approved financial powers of PRIs and are essential for timely local problem-solving.
The Hon’ble MP cautioned that if every small and locally required work is to be routed through the UT Administration for seeking appraisal and approval of MHA, it will not only cause abnormal administrative delay, but will also lead to non-utilisation and surrender of sanctioned grants, thereby directly harming public welfare and undermining planned development across rural and urban areas.
Emphasising the democratic and constitutional dimension, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray stated that PRIs/Municipal bodies are elected institutions created to address functional needs of people at the local level, and have been performing this role in the Islands for over two decades. Any blanket restriction requiring prior MHA approval even for minor works funded under the UT’s Grant-in-Aid framework would effectively downgrade and demoralise elected institutions, dilute decentralisation, and make local self-government meaningless in practice.
Accordingly, the Hon’ble MP has requested the Government of India to review and resolve the confusion arising from the current interpretation and to issue urgent and clear clarification / exemption, so that PRIs/Municipal bodies in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands may be permitted to sanction and execute development works within their approved Grant-in-Aid limits without mandatory reference to MHA for appraisal and approval.