Centre appoints former NITI Aayog V-C Dr Arvind Panagariya as head of 16th Finance Commission
01 Jan 2024
Government of India on Sunday announced the constitution of the Sixteenth Finance Commission, with Arvind Panagariya, former vice chairman, NITI Aayog, and Columbia University professor, as its chairman.
The government also announced the appointment of Ritvik Ranjanam Pandey as secretary to the Commission. It further stated that it would notify members of the commission separately.
The chairman and other members of the Sixteenth Finance Commission shall hold office from the date on which they respectively assume office until the date of submission of the report or till 31 October 2025, whichever is earlier, it added.
As per the terms of reference, the Sixteenth Finance Commission shall make recommendations on the following matters:
1) The distribution between the union and the states of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them under the provisions of the Constitution and the allocation between the states of the respective shares of such proceeds;
2) The principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenues of the states out of the Consolidated Fund of India and the sums to be paid to the states by way of grants-in-aid of their revenues under article 275 of the Constitution for the purposes other than those specified in the provisos to clause (1) of that article; and
3) The measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a state to supplement the resources of the panchayats and municipalities in the state on the basis of the recommendations made by the Finance Commission of the State.
The Sixteenth Finance Commission may review the present arrangements on financing disaster management initiatives, with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (53 of 2005), and make appropriate recommendations thereon.
The Commission has been requested to make its report available by 31 October 2025, covering a period of five years commencing on the 1 April 2026.