Chandigarh, July 21 - With an aim to enhance financial discipline and improve efficiency in various departments, the Haryana Government has issued comprehensive guidelines for the State Accounts Service (SCS) cadre officers posted in administrative departments.
Chief Secretary Mr. Anurag Rastogi, who also holds the charge of Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Department, has issued a letter in this regard to all Administrative Secretaries.
The letter states that many financial proposals are being sent by SAS cadre officers such as Section Officers, Accounts Officers, Senior Accounts Officers and Chief Accounts Officers working in various administrative departments without proper preliminary scrutiny. This is putting more burden on the secretariat of the department and delaying the disposal of the proposals.
Therefore, it will be the responsibility of the SAS Cadre officers working in various administrative departments to ensure that all proposals having financial implications are scrutinized with utmost seriousness and caution at the initial stage before being forwarded to the Finance Department.
They will also have to ensure that all such proposals are in accordance with the policies, circulars, budgetary provisions and financial powers of the Finance Department. The concerned officers will record clear remarks of the final scrutiny along with the recommendations, objections or observations and will also ensure that all necessary documents, checklists and acceptances are attached with the proposal. They will give prior notice to the Administrative Department of any procedural or financial lapse so that necessary improvements can be made before the proposal is finalized.
The Finance Department officers posted in the departments will ensure that the financial scrutiny of each proposal is done on the basis of the prescribed key parameters. This includes confirmation of budget availability under the relevant item and suggestion of re-appropriation if required. The proposals will also be scrutinised to ensure that the bill complies with all the departmental directives, especially circulars on expenditure control and procurement.
The concerned officers will also examine whether the proposal is within the financial powers delegated or requires higher level approval. A clear assessment of financial feasibility will be made behind each proposal, in which any alternative, if any, explored, will also be mentioned. The long-term financial implications will be assessed by identifying recurrent and non-recurrent expenditure.
The procurement procedures will be ensured as per the Haryana Service Rules (HSR Manual), General Financial Rules (GFR) and the guidelines of the department. Proposals related to staff like creation of posts, salary revision, appointment of consultants or manpower deployment will be scrutinised as per the norms of the Finance Department. The approved cost, financial flow and time frame will be confirmed in the time bound plans and projects. Also, any invalid expenditure item will be identified and highlighted.
In addition, if any proposal is related to a new scheme, the Finance Department officials will ensure that no other scheme with the same objective is already running. Such proposals should necessarily include a brief background description of the scheme and a six-level structure of the scheme (Major Head, Sub-Major Head, Minor Head, Sub Head, Detailed Head and Object Head).
Also, a certificate from the Finance Department officer posted in the concerned department should be attached with every proposal sent under the concurrence of the Finance Department. It should clearly state that the proposal has been examined as per the guidelines of the Finance Department, the budgetary provisions are available, all the norms have been followed and whether the proposal is recommended under the concurrence or not.
The officers of the Finance Department working in the Administrative Departments will be responsible for the correctness of the financial verification of the proposals and they will act as the guardians of financial propriety. The Finance Department has also clarified that these officers will be held directly responsible for the correctness and transparency of the financial verification, and if negligence is found at any level, administrative action can be taken against them. All the Administrative Secretaries have been appealed to direct the SAA officers posted in their departments to strictly follow these guidelines.