Arrear Claims - Delegation of powers to the Heads of Departments for issue of Adhoc Sanction - Procedure to be adopted by the District Treasury Officer/Pay & Accounts Officer, Hyderabad.
(G.O.Ms.No.161, Fin.&Plg., dated 27-4-1991)
REF: 1. G.O.Ms.No. 380, Fin.&
Plg., date 15-10-70.
2. G.O.Ms.No. 53, Fin. & Plg., date 21-12-84.
In the GO. first read above, instructions were issued that arrear claims relating to Government employees may continue to be sanctioned in terms of Government Orders already issued in the matter in consultation with the Finance Department and in all such cases the Department should take action for fixing the responsibility for the administrative delay and also take suitable action against the persons held responsible, under intimation to Government in Finance Department.
2. Orders were also issued that since it is possible to verify the arrear claims with reference to the office copy of the Pay Bills and TA. Bills which are preserved as per the orders issued in G.O.Ms.No. 489, Finance (FR) Department, dt. 16.11.1962 and Art. 326 of the A.P. Financial Code, Vol. 1 (Pay Bills for 3, 5 years and T.A. Bills for 3 years) and Drawing Officer / Head of the Department, should preserve all the records relating to any particular Government Servant till his claim is finally settled and also take personal responsibility for the correctness of the claim on the basis of the records available with him.
3. The records in the possession of Audit i.e., Pay & Accounts
Officer/Accountant General, Andhra Pradesh are preserved only for a period of
six years and hence claims which relate to period of over six years cannot be
verified with reference to these records. Therefore, a system of Adhoc Sanction
was introduced as per Article 55 of A.P. Financial Code, Vol. 1 In the light of
some glaring discrepancies found in such old claims, Government have reviewed
the existing procedure with regard to arrear claims, which fall in any one if
the following two categories, namely :-
(a) Claims which relate to a
period of less than six years when they are preferred; and
(b) Claims which relate to a period more than six years.
4. In regard to the category of claims in item (a) above, as per the present procedure, the Accountant-General, Andhra Pradesh/Pay and Accounts Officer, Hyderabad are being authorised to pre-audit the claim and on its being found to be correct in audit, it is passed for payment. In regard to the category of claims in item (b), Adhoc sanction is being accorded by Government, for passing the claims on the responsibility of the Drawing Officer, for verification in Audit due to limited period of preservation of records.
5. In respect of claims within 6 years, the Accountant-General informed the Government that checking the claims with original vouchers is becoming difficult due to several factors and consequently the check is conformed to entries in the Service Books received with the claims. Pending issue of instructions, with reference to the above observation of the Accountant General, the arrear claims relating to a period of less than six years should continue to be dealt with as per the existing procedures.
6. The claims which have arisen from a date more than six years before the date of detection, sanction is being accorded at present by Government for passing the claims on the responsibility of the Drawing Officer, in terms of Art. 55 of A.P.F.C. Vol. 1, as the claims are not susceptible for verification in audit due to the limited period of preservation of records. But the system of according Adhoc Sanction is to be given by the Government since there are no records or other information available at Government level to verity these claims, before according Adhoc Sanction more effective and to reduce the possibility of wrong claims, it has been decided to delegate the powers to the Head of Departments to accord sanction for arrear claims over six years. Keeping this in view, the following instructions are issued to deal with the cases of time-barred arrear claims of more than six years old prior to the date of presentation.
(i) the arrear claims which are more than six years old should be
prepared in two bills, the first, relating to a period of six years and the
second relating to a period of less than six years. The Drawing Officer should
follow all the instructions in regard to the preparation and certification of
the arrear claims.
(ii) the arrear claims for a period of less than six years, shall be
sent, after sanction, for pre-audit by Pay & Accounts Officer! Accountant-
General, Andhra Pradesh as the case may be. These claims may be admitted after
pre-audit as at present.
(iii) the arrear claims for period beyond six years on the date of presentation shall be sent to Head of Department for issue of Adhoc Sanction. After the issue of Adhoc Sanction by Heads of Department, the Pay & Accounts Officer/shall scrutinise the claims before admitting for payment by exercising the following checks at their level, namely-
(a) correctness of the Pay Fixation Statement on which the arrear claim
is based should be verified with reference to the records necessary for such
verification
(b) due, and drawn statement should be verified with reference to the entries
of Pay available in the Service Register of the individual taking into account
the corresponding rates of D.A. etc., admissible as on those dates
(c) arrear claim should be supported by an Indemnity Bond executed by the
Claimant agreeing to refund any excess or double or wrong payments;
(d) a certificate in clear terms should be obtained from the Drawing Officer
that the claim has not been drawn previously and that the correctness of the
claim has been verified from the records being maintained in the office of the
Drawing Officer; and
(e) after the payment is authorised by the District Treasury Officer/Pay & Accounts Officer, Hyderabad, in respect of arrear claims, an entry to this effect should be recorded in the Service Register of the individual and attested by the District Treasury Officer/Pay & Accounts Officer, Hyderabad.
7. Government also direct that in the Districts all arrear claims though presented either at the Sub-Treasury or at the District Treasury, the bills shall be passed for payment only by the District Treasury Officer after scrutiny in his office, but payment can be made in the District Treasury or Sub-Treasury where the bill has been presented. Similarly, the bills presented in Twin-Cities shall be passed by the Pay & Accounts Officer, Hyderabad himself.
8. Government also delegate powers to the Heads of Departments to sanction
arrear claims within six years after investigation by the Pay & Accounts
Officer, Hyderabad / District Treasury Officer.
