‘Funds to be blocked in case of further invalid proof’
*Warns of strict action in case of non-compliance
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, June 9: Taking serious note of the discrepancies in the documents, the Finance Department has refused to accept various ongoing works of various departments under Capex and District Capex Budget and rejected back the same to the concerned Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) for strict compliance to the guidelines within a week’s time failing which funds will not be released.
In a communication addressed to all the Administrative Secretaries and District Development Commissioners of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Finance Department has mentioned that it has rejected back various ongoing works/activities to the DDOs/Departments through “rejection Module” on Budget, Estimation, Allocation & Monitoring System (BEAMS) portal on the basis of discrepancies noticed in documents—Administrative Approval, Technical Sanction, Proof photographs uploaded by the DDOs while preferring the bills through JKPaySys and PROOF App.
“The DDOs have been provided with the access on BEAMS portal, an application for online budgeting and flow of resources, to carry out the necessary rectification by uploading the valid documents, photographs and information against each rejected ongoing work/activity under Capex Budget including the District Capex”, the Finance Department has mentioned in the communication.
Accordingly, the Finance Department has directed all the Administrative Secretaries and District Development Commissioners to issue necessary instructions to the concerned DDOs working under their administrative control to adhere to the instructions strictly.
Now, all the DDOs have been directed to ensure uploading of valid documents of Administrative Approval, Technical Sanction, geo-tagged photographs and information against each rejected ongoing work/activity on BEAMS portal in a time bound manner preferable within a week’s time positively so that funds can be authorized accordingly.
“Uploading of invalid documents/photographs or information against the rejected works/activities will again lead to rejection and the repeated rejections will result into permanent blocking of the work/activity by the system thereby debarring the work/activity for further release of funds”, the Finance Department has made it clear, adding “under such circumstances the concerned DDOs will be personally liable for any kind of default on this account”.
The Finance Department has further made it clear that DDOs, who are again found uploading invalid documents/photographs or information on the BEAMS portal will face strict action as warranted under Rules.
All the Director Finance, Financial Advisors and Chief Accounts Officers and Director Planning and Joint Director Planning in the Administrative Departments and Accounts Officers in the District Development Commissioner offices have also been asked to oversee the progress on this account and Finance Department will monitor their performance in this regard also.
“Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has a number of times cautioned all the departments against violating the provisions of General Financial Rules to ensure complete transparency”, sources said, adding “in terms of Rule 136(1) of General Financial Rules, 2017, no work can be commenced and liability incurred in connection with it until Administrative Approval is obtained from the appropriate authority in each case”.
“Equally important is Technical Sanction, which is a guarantee that the proposal is structurally and technically sound, the estimates are accurately calculated and based on adequate data”, sources said, adding “Finance Department has already conveyed to the departments that expected date of commencement and completion of the works should be clearly mentioned and subsequent changes in scope of work should be strictly avoided”.
It is pertinent to mention here that BEAMS supports reliable, accurate and better monitoring control for budget planning and expenditure audit, besides real time reconciliation of accounts in comparison to manual budgeting process which lacks transparency and is beset with difficulties due to time delays in authorizations, ineffective monitoring and budget control. It helps to keep checks and balances on diversion and blockage of funds.
The purpose of developing PROOF App is to monitor work progress of all the works allocated to different DDOs of different departments. It gives pictorial view of the work along with its geographical coordinates—latitude and longitude and user comments on work progress.
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