Disciplinary action to be taken for non-compliance
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 20: Several glaring instances of wasteful and unauthorized expenditure by various departments and non-compliance to the General Financial Rules, 2017 have come to the notice of the Government, which while taking serious note of the same has sought detailed reports from the Administrative Secretaries. Moreover, the Government has made it clear that in future such an act will lead to disciplinary action against the concerned officers.
These instances have come to the notice of Finance Department while conducting mandatory audit of various offices. It has been found that in many cases execution of works has been left halfway after incurring significant amount of expenditure with no tangible outcome.
“Some works have been abandoned half way due to land dispute or due to lack of clearances etc. Moreover, instances of materials procured but not utilized, machines/equipment lying idle, advances issued but the materials not received have also come to the fore”, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary and Financial Commissioner Finance Department has mentioned in an official document.
This is notwithstanding the fact that in terms of Rule 70 of the General Financial Rules, 2017, the Administrative Secretaries are responsible and accountable for financial management of their departments and to ensure that the departments follow Government procurement procedure for execution of works as well as for procurement of services and supplies.
Moreover, they are supposed to take effective steps to ensure that unauthorized, irregular and wasteful expenditure is avoided, the Chief Secretary said.
Taking serious note of these instances, Dr Mehta has asked all the Administrative Secretaries to direct their subordinate officers to avoid unauthorized, irregular and wasteful expenditure in execution of works and procurement of goods and services.
“The occurrence of such expenditure must be immediately reported and investigated without delay to determine the validity thereof”, he has directed, adding “the recoverability of the unauthorized, irregular or wasteful expenditure must also be considered”. He has made it clear that non compliance of this will result in appropriate disciplinary procedure against the concerned officers.
It is pertinent to mention here that Rule 70 of General Financial Rules, 2017 fixes duties and responsibilities of the Chief Accounting Authority.
“The Secretary of the Department, who is the Chief Accounting Authority, shall be responsible and accountable for financial management of his department and shall ensure that the public funds appropriated to the department are used for the purpose for which they were meant”, Rule 70 read.
Moreover, this Rule states that the Secretary shall be responsible for the effective, efficient, economical and transparent use of the resources in achieving the stated project objectives whilst complying with performance standards. Moreover, the Secretary shall review and monitor regularly the performance of the programmes and projects to determine whether stated objectives are achieved.
“The Secretary shall be responsible for preparation of expenditure and other statements relating to his department as required by regulations, guidelines or directives issued by Ministry of Finance. The Secretary shall ensure that his department maintains full and proper records of financial transactions and adopts systems and procedures that shall at all times afford internal controls”, Rule further said, adding “he shall ensure that his department follows the Government procurement procedure for execution of works, as well as for procurement of services and supplies, and implements it in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost-effective manner”.
As per this Rule, the Administrative Secretary of the department is required to take effective and appropriate steps to ensure his department avoids unauthorized, irregular and wasteful expenditure.
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