Budget 2022-23: J&K nods authorization of 50 pc funds

The Jammu and Kashmir government today accorded sanction of authorization of 50% of funds under Budget for the financial year 2022-23 except nine heads while directing departments to avoid wasteful expenditure.

The detailed heads, which shall be released on cases to case basis include Leave Travel Concession, Purchase of Vehicles, Furniture & Furnishings, -Interest, Purchase of Power Cost, Price of Food Grains, Snow Clearance, UT Share under revenue component and Disaster Response Fund.

The government also sanctioned authorization of 50 per cent CAPEX budget, including the District Capex for the year 2022-23 in favour of all the Departments and District Development Commissioners.

Two separate orders in this regard have been issued by Atal Dulloo Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary) Finance Department. The utilization of funds under the Revenue Budgets shall be subject to the following conditions, it reads.

In accordance with The Jammu & Kashmir Appropriation (No.2) Act, 2022, No.5 of 2022 Dated: 25th of March 2022, Controlling Officer(s) shall ensure that all budgetary allocations are strict as per Demands for Grants and funds shall be released through BEAMS

The Controlling Officers shall immediately release the funds to the line departments within a period of one week from the date of authorization of funds by the Finance Department. The BEAMS Administrator at the Administrative Department level shall report compliance to the Finance Department on monthly basis.

The expenditure shall be made strictly in accordance with GFR 2017. All the procurement of Goods and Services shall be made through the 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 process of e-tendering, wherever required as per GFR, shall be initiated immediately in the month of April 2022 and completed by or before 31st May 2022 for the year 2022-23. No diversion shall be made under any pretext unless expressly authorized by the Finance Department.

“The Controlling Officer(s)/DDOs shall strictly monitor revenue collection as per fixed targets on a monthly basis, which can be viewed in the Annual Financial Statement, 2022-23 available on the Finance Department’s website and shall also be communicated through BEAMS”, the order reads.

All the Director, Finance(s)/FA & CAO(S) shall ensure submission of monthly revenue realization statements and they shall also monitor the expenditure statements on BEAMS and furnish the same before the 5th of the following month for monthly review by the Finance Department, it added.

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, except for a few small denominations, it reads.

All the Controlling Officers/DDOs shall conduct periodic reconciliation of remittances and drawls with Treasury and the Office of the Accountant General (A&E), J&K to ensure correct reflection of income and expenditure in the Finance and other Accounts, it added.

“The funds so released shall be utilized by the concerned authority only for the purpose specified after observing all prerequisite formalities/procedures as per GFR and shall not be available for further re-appropriation/diversion at any level and for any reason whatsoever”, it added.

Treasury Officers concerned shall ensure that releases have been made by DDO(s) through BEAMS. Treasury Officers shall also be personally liable for making any payment not authorized and accepted on BEAMS application, the order reads.

The Departments shall ensure that the expenditure out of allotted funds are made in stipulated time-frame within the quarter(s) for which the funds have been released, it reads.

The advance drawl 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 BoD’s meeting, status of updation of annual accounts and status of previous UCs, it added.

The ban on engagement of casual workers, need based workers, daily wagers etc shall continue to be in force. The expenditure shall be debited to the appropriate head of account as provided in the Demands for Grants and available on the BEAMS portal, it reads.

“Treasury Officers shall not entertain cases of parking of funds under ‘Civil Deposits’ unless sanctioned by the Finance Department. Strict action shall follow where any DDO or Treasury Officer violates these norms”, it added.

In another order the Finance Department said that the release of Capex budget funds through BEAMS as well as expenditure thereof shall be subject to the uploading of works/activities on the BEAMS portal as per the Works Plan duly approved by the competent authority for the year 2022-23.

The utilization of funds shall further be subject to the following terms and conditions which include that all the District Development Commissioners shall furnish the District Plans (project/work/activity wise) in consultation with the PRIS, BDCs and DDCs Of the concerned District, by or before 30th of April, 2022.

The main focus of the Department/DDCs must be on outcomes in terms Of benefit to the public. The Departments/DDCs shall ensure that the “Budget Announcements” for the year 2022-23 are included in the Works Plan on priority and progress achieved on this account shall be reviewed periodically.

All the spillover and ongoing works/activities which are expected to be completed during the year 2022-23 or the most in the succeeding year, shall be the first Charge on Capex Budget 2022-23, only rarely a project should be undertaken involving more than two financial years.

“Each work should be 100% physically verified and third party test inspections shall be conducted in respect of high-value works. The photographs with Geo-coordinates should be uploaded through a PROOF application. The e-tenders shall be invited for the entire project cost. All the Departments/DDCs shall ensure the submission of information/works Plan, on the e-mail address within the stipulated time”, the order reads.