DDCs asked to furnish Distt Plans before April 30
e-tendering process to be completed by May 31
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 31: Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir today authorized 50% funds under Revenue and Capex Budget including District Capex for the financial year 2022-23 except for certain heads. However, several conditions have been laid down to check wasteful expenditure and ensure monthly review of utilization of funds by the Finance Department.
“Sanction is accorded to the authorization of 50% of funds under Revenue Budget for the financial year 2022-23 except in respect of leave travel concession, purchase of vehicles, furniture and furnishings, interest, purchase of power, cost price of food grains, snow clearance, UT share under revenue component and Disaster Response Fund, which shall be released on case to case basis”, Financial Commissioner Finance Department (Additional Chief Secretary) Atal Dulloo has mentioned in the order.
Stating that utilization of funds should be strictly in accordance with the Jammu and Kashmir Appropriation Act, 2022, the Government has asked the Controlling Officers to ensure that all budgetary allocations are strictly as per Demands for Grants and funds shall be released through BEAMS (Budget Estimation Allocation Monitoring System).
Moreover, the Controlling Officers have been directed to release the funds to the line departments within a period of one week from the date of authorization of funds by the Finance Department and the BEAMS Administrator at the Administrative Department shall report compliance to the Finance Department on monthly basis.
Stating that all the procurement of Goods and Services shall be made through GeM portal in terms of relevant provisions of GFR 2017, Manual for Procurement of Goods, 2017 and Manual for Procurement of Consultancy and Other Services, 2017, the Government said that expenditure should be made strictly in accordance with General Financial Rules, 2017.
“The process of e-tendering, wherever required as per General Financial Rules, should be initiated immediately in the month of April 2022 and completed by or before May 31, 2022 for the financial year 2022-23”, the Government said, adding “no diversion shall be made under any pretext unless expressly authorized by the Finance Department”.
It has been specifically mentioned in the order that the Controlling Officers/DDOs should strictly monitor revenue collection as per fixed targets on monthly basis and all the Directors Finance/Financial Advisors and Chief Accounts Officers should ensure submission of monthly revenue realization statements and they shall also monitor expenditure statements on BEAMS and furnish the same before 5th of the following month for monthly review by the Finance Department.
“All the Government transactions shall be made through electronic mode without involving any cash transactions in the Government offices or other offices which are directly or indirectly controlled by the Government, excepting for few small denominations”, the order said, adding “the advance drawal of funds in respect of Grant-in-Aid to Autonomous Bodies/PSUs/Boards etc shall be simultaneously processed with the fund release proposals by the departments containing the details of available bank balances, status of holding BoDs meeting, status of updation of annual accounts and status of previous Utilization Certificates (UCs)”.
It has been made clear that the ban on engagement of casual workers, need based workers, daily wagers etc shall continue to be in force. “Treasury Officers shall not entertain cases of parking of funds under ‘Civil Deposits’ unless sanctioned by the Finance Department and strict action shall follow where any DDO or Treasury Officer violates these norms”, the order said.
All the departments have been told to ensure uniform pace of expenditure during the financial year 2022-23 and maintain the overall ceiling of 30% expenditure during the last quarter of the financial year. The expenditure during the last month of the financial year 2022-23 shall be restricted to 15% of the budget allocation, the Government said, adding focus of expenditure should be outcome based and wasteful expenditure should be avoided.
According to another order, sanction has been accorded to the utilization of 50% Capex Budget including District Capex for the year 2022-23 in favour of all the departments and District Development Commissioners.
All the District Development Commissioners have been directed to furnish the District Plans (project/work/activity wise) in consultation with the PRIs, BDCs and DDCs of the concerned district by or before April 30, 2022.
The departments/DDCs have been asked to ensure that the budget announcements for the year 2022-23 are included in the Works Plan on priority and progress achieved on this account will be reviewed periodically. “All the spillover and ongoing works/activities which are expected to be completed during the year 2022-23 or at the most in succeeding year, shall be the first charge on Capex Budget. Only rarely a project should be undertaken involving more than two financial years”, the Government said.
Stating that each work should be 100% physically verified and third party test inspections conducted in respect of high value works, the order said that the departments should initiate the e-tendering process immediately in the month of April and ensure that each e-NIT is issued by or before April 30. “The departments shall ensure that the exercise of tendering is carried out in a time bound manner and all the tendering processes must be concluded by or before May 31”, the Government said.