MINUTES OF THE 13th REVIEW MEETING
(ON WORKING OF TREASURIES OF KASHMIR DIVISION)
HELD UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE
HON’BLE MINISTER FOR FINANCE & LADAKH AFFAIRS
ON 21.06.2014.
Present :Government Side
Accountant
General (A&E)’s
side
J&K Bank side
National
Informatics
Centre
Mrs. Pushpa Devi Sumbli,
Director General, J&K Funds
Organization.
Mr. Farooq Ahmad
Deputy Accountant
General (A&E)
Mr. Farooq Ahmad,
Scientist D, NIC,
J&K.
Mr. Altaf Hassan Mirza , Director
General, Accounts & Treasuries
.
Mr. Abdul Rashid
Malik, Accounts
officer.
Mr. Mohd. Amin,
President,
Government
Business & Financial
Inclusion, J&K Bank.
Mr.
Zahoor
Ahmad
Bhat,
Director, Local Fund Audit &
Pensions, J&K.
Mr. Lochan Dass, Director, Audit
& Inspections, J&K.
Mr. Mohd. Yousuf Pandith,
Director, Accounts & Treasuries,
Kashmir.
T.Ravinder
Project Manager,
National Informatics
Centre, J&K Unit.
Mr. Reyaz Ahmad,
Joint
Director, Funds Organization,
Kashmir.
Mr.
Mushtaq
Ahmad
Mir,
Treasury
Officer,
Additional
Treasury , Tankipora.
Mr. Gh. Nabi Bhat, District
Treasury officer, Kupwara.
Ms. Naila Zahoor , Treasury
Officer , Saddar Treasury
Srinagar.
Mr. Amit Mahajan, District
Treasury Officer, Leh.
Mr. Chand Ji Bhat, Treasury
Officer,
Civil
Secretariat,
Srinagar.
Mr. M. Y. Sarafraz, District
Treasury Officer, Budgam.
1
Mr. Mohd. Maqbool War, District
Treasury Officer, Shopian.
Mr. Syed Farooq Ahmad, District
Treasury Officer, Ganderbal.
Mr. Syed Altaf Hussain, Deputy
Director (Central), Accounts &
Treasuries.
Mr. Mohd. Yousuf Lone, District
Treasury Officer , Kulgam.
Mr. Abdul Rashid Khan, District
Treasury Officer, Baramulla.
Mr. Gh. Nabi Dar, District
Treasury Officer, Anantnag.
Mr. Gh. Rasool Najar, District
Treasury Officer, Bandipora.
Mr.
Mohd.
Yousf, District
Treasury Officer , Pulwama
Mr. Ali Mohd. Sofi, Treasury
Officer,
Additional
Treasury
Khanyar.
Mr. Jaswinder Paul Singh, ATO,
District Treasury Kargil.
Mr. Shoiab Ahmad , ATO,
Additional Treasury , Lal Mandi
Srinagar.
1.
Treasury Officer , Treasury Achabal did not attend the meeting
as his son was ill.
All other Treasury Officers of Kashmir Province were
present in the meeting.
(A) Director General , Accounts & Treasuries
2.
While welcoming the participants, the Director General,
Accounts & Treasuries informed that the present meeting is the 26th review
meeting of the treasuries of Jammu and Kashmir and 13th review meeting of
the treasuries of Kashmir division being chaired by the Hon’ble Minister for
Finance and Ladakh Affairs. The Director General, Accounts & Treasuries
stated that these meetings provide a platform where various important
decisions are taken on spot in which all stakeholders viz. Principal Accountant
General (Audit), Accountant General (A&E), DG, Funds , Local Fund Audit &
Pension, Audit & Inspections and J&K Bank , Deputy Commissioner Stamps
participate and the Hon’ble Minister reviews the functioning of the treasuries
across the table for better management of the financial affairs of the State.
He added that the Treasury officers at the same time get a chance to interact
directly with the senior functionaries of the Finance Department and the
Hon’ble Finance Minister.
3.
The Director General, Accounts & Treasuries said that under the
able guidance of the Hon’ble Minister and by holding of these review
meetings, the working and functioning of the treasuries has improved to a
great extent particularly in respect of rendition of accounts to various
2
quarters, clearance of audit paras, OB items etc. but there is always scope
for improvement.
4.
The Director General, Accounts & Treasuries further informed
that there are 130 treasuries in the State, out of which 69 treasuries are
functional in Kashmir province, out of these there are 15 District Treasuries ,
three Additional Treasuries in Srinagar, 34 Muffasil Treasuries and 20 sub
treasuries. He further informed the quorum that during the current financial
year two new treasuries , one in Ramkote Jammu province and the other in
Bagat-e-Kanipora in Kashmir province have been created.
5.
He stated that 5790 DDOs operate upon these 130 treasuries,
out of which 3005 DDOs operate upon 69 treasuries of Kashmir province
alone. He added that at present there are 1,66,065 pensioners drawing their
pension from the treasuries as well as Business Units of J&K Bank in J&K
State, out of which 84,469 pensioners are drawing their pension from
Kashmir province.
6.
He explained that the computerization of treasuries is in full
swing and almost 90 % hardware items have been received in the treasuries.
He added that the targets in this regard could not be achieved primarily
because of non-availability of some hardware which , despite best efforts,
was not supplied by the suppliers nominated by DGS&D, however, the supply
orders placed with the DGS&D in this regard has now been cancelled and
Director, Accounts & Treasuries Jammu/ Kashmir have been asked to make
the purchases at their own level through Provincial Level Purchase cum
Contract Committee constituted vide Government order No. 70-F of 2014
dated 19.03.2014.
7.
He informed that as of now 29 District treasuries are using this
software and as soon as the UPSs are purchased this software will be rolled
out in other treasuries of the state. He added that a Working Group has been
formed to look into any issue relating to treasuryNet and computerization of
treasuries and this core group is to resolve issues relating to the treauryNet
and the Core group which comprises of Treasury officers and experts from IT
Department acts as Liaison between NIC and Finance Department. He said
with satisfaction that since the formation of this group, the results have been
encouraging. The core group is meeting fortnightly and update/amend
treasuryNet application and make it compatible to the treasury requirement.
8.
He pointed out that as
s per information made available by Treasury
Officers, an amount of Rs. 1.20 Crore have been recovered out of Rs. 2.30
crore excess pension paid by the J&K Bank to the pensioners as on ending
04/2014, leaving a balance of Rs. 1.10 crore. Instructions have now been
issued to recover the amount of excess pension from the pensioners
immediately in one instalment only as per the advice of Reserve Bank of
India.
3
9.
The Director General, Accounts & Treasuries informed that there were
237 outstanding audit paras as on ending 09/2013 and 184 new audit paras
were added from 09/2013 to April, 2014, Out of which 228 audit paras have
been dropped leaving a balance of 193 outstanding audit paras at the close
of April, 2014.
10.
He further informed that as reported by the Treasury
Officers across the State, 49,460 PRANs have been sent to NSDL by the
Treasury Officers in respect of the new entrants, out of which 47,244 PRANs
have been received by them ending April, 2014 and an amount of
339.80 crore has been uploaded/ transferred by the Treasury Officers of the
J&K State to the concerned Bank ending April, 2014. He added that specific
to Kashmir Division, the Treasury Officers of Kashmir Division have submitted
28,629 PRANs to NSDL, out of which 27,286 PRANs have been received
and an amount of 198.30 crore has been uploaded/ transferred by the
Treasury Officers of the Kashmir Division to the concerned Bank w.e.f.
01.01.2010 to ending April, 2014.
11.
The Director General, Accounts & Treasuries said that during the last
five years, the Finance Department is pursuing an ambitious plan of
construction of buildings for treasuries and the new buildings have been
constructed for District Treasury Bandipora., District Treasury Kupwara,
District Treasury Shopian, Treasury sogam, Treasury Handwara, Treasury
Khansahib., Treasury Shangus, Treasury Dooru, Treasury Devsar, and
Treasury Chiktan in Kashmir province. He added that during the current year
we expect to complte construction of building for the treasuries like Additional
Treasury Lal mandi Srinagar, treasury Qazigund, Chadura, Shadimarg ,
Pattan and Sopore for which funds have already been earmarked. Land has
been identified for construction of treasuries like Khanyar,D.H. Pora, Kralpora,
Pulwama, Khag, Kreeri, Mattan, Achabal and Gurez.
12.
He informed that various meetings were also held regarding
Results Framework Document during the current year and targets to be
achieved by the Treasury Officers have been identified and communicated to
the Treasury Officers concerned as also the trend values and targets under
RFD for the financial year 2014-15 have also been worked out and submitted
to the Finance Department for approval.
(B)
Hon’ble Minister for Finance & Ladakh Affairs
13.
The Hon’ble Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs while
welcoming the participants mentioned that the treasuries are the face of the
Government, and the Treasury Officers are required to deal politely and
humbly with the public. He said that cleaner the functioning of Treasuries,
the better will be the image of Government among the general public. The
Hon’ble Minister asked the Treasury Officers to strictly follow the Treasury
Code and guidelines / instructions/ orders issued by the Finance Department
from time to time.
He urged the Treasury Officers to maintain Budget
4
Control Registers in each and every treasury and ensure that expenditure in
no case exceeds the allotted funds, as no other authority can allow
expenditure in excess of the funds authorized by the State Legislature.
14.
The Hon’ble Finance Minister, said that though it was a matter of
satisfaction that all the Treasuries have rendered their accounts on time to
the office of the Accountant General, yet instances of misclassification/
variations have been noticed in respect of some of the treasuries with the
result a correct picture of the state finances is not reflected in the State
Accounts compiled by the Accountant General. The Hon’ble Finance Minister
went on to add that submission of inaccurate, incomplete, illegible, misclassified monthly accounts does not serve the desired purpose. He pointed
out that the Joint Director, Funds Organization Kashmir has pin-pointed some
treasuries who have rendered accounts belatedly and the delay ranged from
02 to 44 days which is a matter of serious concern. He directed the
Treasury Officers to refrain from rendering the accounts late and adhere to
the time lines / dates fixed for the purpose, in future.
15.
The Hon’ble Finance Minister said that as many as 193 audit paras
were outstanding against the treasuries of Kashmir Province ending April,
2014.
He added that the paras mostly pertain to the excess pension
recovery (Excess pension paid by the J&K Bank), non recording of pension
entries in the PPO halves etc. The Hon’ble Finance Minister directed the
Treasury Officers to make strenuous efforts so that the audit paras are
dropped and satisfy the audit on spot so that new audit paras do not get
generated.
He added that the Accountant General , (A&E) was previously
requested to drop the audit paras on account of excess pension recovery
against the treasury officers where the recovery has been started and the
requestof the Finance Department was agreed by the then Accountant
General. But unfortunately , the instructions of Accountant General were not
carried out by Audit partieis. He advised Deputy Accountant General to have
a re-look on this proposal.
16.
The Hon’ble Minister directed the Treasury Officers not to allow the
accumulations of Red D.C Accounts which had gone upto to
3000 Crore .
He also directed the Treasury Officers not to entertain WDC bills for advance
drawals unless a certificate is recorded by the Drawing and Disbursing officer
that the Red DC accounts against the previous advance drawals have been
submitted to the office of the Accountant General. He said that it appears
that the instructions of the Finance Department are not being carried out by
the Treasury Officers.
The Director General, Accounts & Treasuries
intervened in the matter and nformed the Hon’ble Minister that it appears to
be quite impossible that there should be OB worth more than 3000 crore for
want of Red DC bills. He said that it appears that the office of Accountant
General is clubbing the OBs for want of Utilsiation certificates for want of Red
DC accounts. The Deputy Accountant General agreed with this probability
and assured the chair that reconciliation shall be conducted in this regar and
factual position brought to the notice of the Finance Department.
5
17.
The Hon’ble Minister also instructed the Treasury Officers not to
release any payment unless drawals for the previous month are got verified
by the concerned DDOs. He added that this was necessary for enforcement of
the financial discipline and to avert chances of fraudulent drawals.
18.
The Hon’ble Minister said under the Results Framework Document
(RFD) started by the Government of India , the State of Jammu & Kashmir
has also been asked to identify the targets to be achieved by the Government
Departments. He said it is a matter of satisfaction that the in the Results
Framework Document the Finance Department has been moving ahead with
excellent pace.
19.
The Hon’ble Finance Minister noted with concern that there are still Rs.
1.10 crore recoverable from J&K Bank on account excess pension. He
reminded that the RBI authorities had clearly advised that the J&K Bank is
legally bound to refund the amount of excess pension in one instalment ony
once any instance of excess pension comes to their notice.
20.
The Hon’ble Minister stated that a good number of administrative
inspections have been conducted by the Director, Accounts & Treasuries
Kashmir and District Treasury Officers. He directed the Director , Accounts &
Treasuries Kashmir to conduct the administrative inspection of the left over
treasuries starting from the inspection of the treasury leftover last year. He
directed that the administrative inspection of the treasuries is an important
responsibility of Director General, Accounts & Treasuries, DAT , Kashmir and
DTOs so as to check and streamline the day to day functioning of the
treasuries for better financial management.
(C) Discussion on Performance Indicators submitted by the
Treasury officer for the month of April , 2014.
21.
The Hon’ble Minister took up the Performance Indicators
submitted by the Treasury Officers of Kashmir Province for the month of
April, 2014, for discussion.
Discussion at length was held with all the
Treasury Officers, the nature/ position of audit paras (dropped/pending)
against their treasuries, identification of land for construction of treasury
buildings, conduct of administrative inspections
as also the position of
Permanent Retirement Accounts Numbers (PRANs) and the amounts uploaded
to the Axis Bank on account of subscribers’/employer’s matching share. Most
of the Treasury Officers stated that a good number of audit paras had been
dropped against them.
22.
As a result of the discussions/deliberations by the Hon’ble
Minister on the Performance Indicators for the month of April, 2014, the
following important directions were issued on the spot :-
6
I.
The Treasury Officers will give focused attention to the
issue of audit paras and get these dropped at the
earliest without waiting for the next visit of audit party
to their treasuries.
II.
The Treasury Officers will report the cases of the
pension recovery where the recovery has been started
by the J&K Business Units / concerned Treasuries to the
Accountant General.
III.
The office of the Accountant General (A&E) , without
waiting for the recovery of the entire amounts will drop
the audit paras against the treasuries in respect of
excess pension paid by the Business Units of the J&K
Bank / Treasuries and agreed by the then Accountant
General.
IV.
The Treasury officers shall furnish all the pending
vouchers in respect of AIS pensioners to the Accountant
General (A&E) for its onward transmission to the
Controller General of Accounts, Government of India.
V.
The Treasury Officers shall reconcile the cash balances
with J&K Bank and report the position to Accountant
General (A&E).
VI.
The J&K Bank shall credit the whole amount of pension
paid in excess to the State pensioners to the
Government Account.
VII. The J&K Bank shall explore the possibility of opening of
extension counters at Kulgam , Bandipora and Leh. As a
short term measure , a working arrangement be made in
these treasuries on the analogy of the District Treasury
Budgam.
VIII. The J&K Bank shall reiterate instructions to the business
units not to charge “service charges” on account of
uploading of amounts in respect of New Pension
Scheme.
IX.
The National Informatics Center , J&K State Unit will
sort out the issue of connectivity within 15 days
positively and complete the project of computerization
of treasuries within the timelines already fixed for the
7
purpose. The NIC, J&K State Unit shall be responsible
for any further delay in the completion of the project.of
computerization of treasuries .
X.
The absence of the Director / SIO, National Informatics
Centre and Principal Systems Analyst , NIC was viewed
very seriously by the Hon’ble Minister and he directed
that in future meetings they should not send their
juniors in such meetings.
XI.
The Director, Accounts & Treasuries, Kashmir shall visit
the area to explore the possibility of finding suitable
accommodation for housing the Additional Treasury
Khanyar.
XII. The District Treasury Officers / Treasury Officers will
personaly monitor and ensure that the treasury
buildings wherever under construction are constructed
strictly as per norms/ plan.
XIII. The Treasury Officers must adhere to the rendition of
accounts to the fund offices on the prescribed date and
adhere to
the instructions given , in this behalf,
previously by the Hon’ble Minister in letter and spirit
and any deviation of the instructions shall make the
concerned personally responsible for disciplinary action
as warranted under rules.
XIV. The concerned Treasury Officers shall submit the cases
of un-serviceable articles to the Directorate General of
Accounts & Treasuries through Director, Accounts &
Treasuries Kashmir/ Jammu for issuance of sanction of
write off of the unserviceable articles in which cases the
auction is not possible in view of the meager amount
likely to be received on auction and the impracticability
of going for the auction through government auctioner.
The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.
NO: DGA&T/PS/DR/
Dated :.06.2014.
Sd/(Altaf Hassan Mirza)
Director General
Accounts & Treasuries
Finance Department.
8
Copy to the :1. Accountant General (A&E), Jammu/ Srinagar.
2. Chairman / Chief Executive, J&K Bank , Corporate Headquarters,
Srinagar.
3. Director General , J&K Funds Organization.
4. Director, Accounts & Treasuries Kashmir/Jammu for immediate
necessary action as directed.
5. Director , Local Fund Audit & Pensions, J&K, Srinagar.
6. Director Audit & Inspections , J&K.
7. Joint Director Funds Organization J&K Jammu / Kashmir for
necessary action.
8. Deputy Commissioner, Stamps , Srinagar.
9. OSD with Minister for Finance & Ladakh Affairs for kind information
of the Hon’ble Minister.
10. Pr. Private Secretary to Principal Secretary to Government, Finance
Department for kind information of the Principal Secretary.
11. All Treasury officers of Kashmir Province / Civil Secretariat Treasury
for information and further necessary action.
9
10
11