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Indian Express
2 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Citing irregularities, Haryana bans GPF advance in last 6 months of service before retirement
The Haryana Government Tuesday directed all administrative secretaries that officers and employees should not be granted approval for General Provident Fund (GPF) advance during the last six months of their service before retirement. Officials said the instructions have been issued to 'prevent irregularities in procedures related to GPF'. In a letter, Anurag Rastogi, Chief Secretary, said, 'Details of any advance or withdrawal sanctioned within 12 months before the date of retirement must be mandatorily recorded in the prescribed forms and duly certified by the Administrative Department'. 'If in any exceptional case an advance is sanctioned after the final payment case has been forwarded to the office of the Principal Accountant General, such sanction must be immediately communicated through official email or other formal means so that necessary adjustment can be made in the payment,' said Rastogi, who also holds the charge of Additional Chief Secretary (Finance Department). Citing reasons for the decision, Rastogi said the Finance Department has noticed that some administrative departments and Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) have been 'sanctioning recoverable or non-recoverable advances even after sending the GPF final payment cases to the office of the Principal Accountant General (Accounts & Entitlement)'. 'It has also been observed that in many cases, mandatory details regarding advances or withdrawals—especially those relating to the 12 months before retirement—are either not filled properly in PF-09 and PF-10 forms linked with GPF final payment, or are not certified by the Administrative Department'. The Haryana Finance Department said such 'lapses increase the risk of errors in payment and excess disbursement, which can cause financial loss' to the state government. The letter added, 'Submission of GPF final payment cases is done only through the Online Diary Management System (ODMS), whereas advances and withdrawals are processed on the Government's E-Billing Portal (T&A)/NIC. Since there is no data integration between these two portals, and some DDOs are not following the prescribed instructions, this problem is occurring repeatedly'. The Haryana Government instructed all treasury officers and DDOs to ensure strict compliance with the order.
Indian Express
14-05-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Gujarat: 150% increase in allowances for snacks, beverages offered to visitors at government offices
The Gujarat state Finance Department has decided to implement an increase of 150% in the allowances granted to government officials for expenses towards offering beverages and snacks to visitors in their office. Senior government officials said that the increase was 'long overdue and necessary' as the current stipulated grant was last calculated in 1998. The resolution of the Finance department, issued on Tuesday, is based on the provisions under the Mumbai Contingency Expenditure Rules, which empower officers to clear expenses incurred towards offering beverages and snacks to guests, visitors and invitees to the offices of government officials, as per their rank and the limit of the 'Guest allowance or snack expenditure'. The resolution has increased the grants for officers of the ranks of Government Secretaries to Department heads, Additional Secretaries of the Administrative Department, Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, non-Secretary rank Department heads, Regional heads and Additional Commissioners. District Collectors and District Development Officers (DDO) as well as other designated department heads of the district collectorates, who may not have the rank of District Collector or DDO, have also been included in the list of officers given the revised grant as per the resolution. For government secretaries and department heads, the annual allowance has been increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 while for Additional Secretaries of the Administrative Department, Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, non-Secretary rank Department heads, Regional heads and Additional Commissioners, District Collectors and District Development Officers, the approved annual expenditure has been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 12,500. For designated department heads of the district collectorates, who may not have the rank of District Collector or DDO, the allowance has been increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,500, annually. The resolution also increased the allowance for snacks per person from Rs 20 to Rs 50 for government secretaries and other department heads, and for officers of other categories up to the rank of District Collector from Rs 15 to Rs 35. The grant has been put into retrospective effect from April 1, 2025. The resolution also directs the officials to 'ensure that there is no expenditure incurred over and above the stipulated amount'. The officers can seek special permission for additional expenditure incurred for any specific events, up to 10% of the sanctioned amount. The resolution states, 'In case of additional expenditure for extraordinary reasons, which is more than 10% of the stipulated amount, the cases must be put together in a single file by April 15 each year and sent to the Finance Department. However, the officers, who incur additional expenditures must mention the detailed reasons for the same in the file that is sent to the Finance Department.' Speaking to The Indian Express, a senior government official said that the amount of increase had been estimated based on a common assessment. 'The existing budget allocation towards the expenses for offering snacks and tea to visitors is of the year 1998, which is extremely old and insufficient. This is the first increase in over 20 years and therefore, it is also significant. There was no specific calculation but (it was) based on a simple assessment of the expenses incurred by most departments. We believe that this expense needs to be looked into more regularly as government officials cannot expend much energy and time in getting approvals for mandatory expenses as guests have to be treated with hospitality,' the official said.
