Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Audit of Accounts [Section 97]. (1) The audit of the accounts of the Gram Panchayat shall be carried out by the audit authority, which the State Government may prescribe, at least ance in a year and a copy of audit report shall be sent to the Gram Panchayat and concerned Panchayat Samiti, Zila Parishad and Divisional Deputy Director of the area within 4 period of one month of the audit. Audit report shall be made available for public on internet. The audit fee as specified by the State Government shall be charged to the Gram Panchayat Fund. (2) In case of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, audit of accounts shall be carried out by the Chartered Accountant appointed for a term not exceeding three years ata time by the Zila Parishad concerned or by any other agency in view of guidelines of the scheme. The annual fee payable to the Chartered The Punjab Panchayati Raj (Gram Panchayat) Rules, 2012 175 Accountant or other agency shall be fixed by the Zila Parishad from time to time. (3) The Sarpanch and Panchayat Secretary shall deal promptly with the audit note and the objections. He shall, within a period of one month of the receipt of the note, convene special meeting of the Gram Panchayat to consider the objections and suggestions made by the audit authority and to decide the action to be taken in regard thereto. The decision so taken shall be indicated on the inter leaved copy or on the margin of the audit note which shall be forwarded to the audit authority, within a period of three months from the date of the receipt of the note. An annotated copy shall be kept by the Panchayat Secretary and produced for information before the Inspecting Officer at his next visit. Any outstanding objection shall be attended to by the Gram Panchayat in the aforesaid manner. Report of action taken shall be sent to the Panchayat Samiti, Zila Parishad and the Divisional Deputy Director of the area. (4) The Sarpanch and Panchayat’ Secretary concerned shall be responsible for making available the record of Gram Panchayat to the satisfaction of audit authority or Chartered Accountant as and when required by them during audit. In case, the record is not made available for audit, the audit authority shall report the matter to the Block Development and Panchayat Officer, who shall arrange to provide the requisite record to the said authority and initiate disciplinary action against the Sarpanch and Panchayat Secretary under the rules.