50,000 govt employees ‘not paid', Madhya Pradesh begins probe

Indian Express

2 days ago

The Madhya Pradesh government has started investigating allegations that salaries of 50,000 government employees have not been paid for over six months as the finance department said it has begun a verification excercise.
These employees have employee codes, but their salaries have not been drawn, raising suspicion about potential irregularities.
The Commissioner of Treasury and Accounts (CTA) had on May 23 asked the Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) to investigate the matter.
The finance department said in a statement that the verification of data for both regular and non-regular employees is a 'continuous process', carried out through the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) software. The exercise is being led by the Office of the Commissioner, Treasury and Accounts, which has issued multiple instructions to treasury and disbursing officers to confirm the accuracy of employee records.
'All treasury, drawing and disbursing officers have been directed from time to time to verify employee data through official correspondence,' said an official from the commissioner's office.
The state-level Financial Intelligence Cell (SFIC), functioning under the Commissioner of Treasury and Accounts, regularly analyses data from treasuries and monitors salary disbursement trends. According to officials, the SFIC recently scrutinised records of nearly 50,000 employees whose salaries have not been drawn through the treasury software in the past four months.
'In such cases, verification of employee details has been mandated through the respective drawing and disbursing officers,' read a directive issued by the Commissioner. 'This is a continuous process undertaken periodically by the office.'
A review of data from December 2024 revealed further potential irregularities. 'There are employees with valid employee codes whose retirement dates have not been entered, and the exit process in IFMIS has not been completed, yet no salary has been withdrawn for four months,' the department said.
In light of these findings, treasury officials have been asked to share relevant data with DDOs and obtain written confirmation within 15 days, including reasons for the salary stoppages. 'The details received from DDOs will be submitted to the Commissioner's office,' the directive noted. 'If any discrepancies are found during data verification, immediate reports must be sent through the Divisional Joint Director, Treasury and Accounts.'
Officials maintained that the scrutiny of employee data is not an isolated audit, but rather 'a standard and ongoing administrative process aimed at maintaining transparency and accuracy in the state's financial systems'.