CAG Objects of creations of 12 Chief Secretary Post in Haryana without the Approval of Center Chandigarh:Five to twelve ex-cadre posts in the Chief Secretary’s grade were operated against the sanctioned strength of two to three posts without the approval of Government of India. The appointments were made without constituting the Screening Committee resulting in irregular expenditure of Rs.5.37 crore. Rule 9(7) of the Indian Administrative Services (Pay) Rules provides that at no time the number of members of the Service appointed to hold posts, other than cadre posts referred to in sub rule (1) and sub rule (4), which carry pay of ` 26,000 per mensem (80,000 from 1 January 2006) and which are reckoned against the State Deputation Reserve, shall except with the prior approval of the Central Government, exceed the number of cadre posts at that level of pay in a State cadre or, as the case may be, in a Joint cadre. Government of India also issued (March 2000) guidelines for functioning of Departmental Promotion Committees wherein it was instructed that the screening committee for the purpose of promotion in the grade of Chief Secretary would consist of the Chief Secretary concerned, one officer working in this grade in the cadre and another officer serving in GOI in the same grade. These objections were raised in the annual audit report of CAG presented in Haryana Vidhan Sabha. A mention was made in the Audit Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the year ending 2007, para 4.5.6 titled “Irregular expenditure on operation of excess ex-cadre posts” regarding operation of one to four excess excadre posts in Chief Secretary’s grade (26,000 revised to 80,000 from 1 January 2006) during April 1995 to December 2005 without the approval of GOI. Government of Haryana (GOH) had taken up the matter with GOI for regularization of these posts but GOI did not agree to the proposal. The matter was again taken up with GOI in February 2007 and thereafter in May 2013, after the matter was discussed (December 2012) in the Public Accounts Committee of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha (PAC) and the Chief Secretary assured the PAC that he will take up the matter with GOI for ex-post facto approval for operation of these ex-cadre posts. Further action in this regard was still awaited (January 2014). Audit observed that the ex-cadre posts which were pointed out in the above para of CAG’s report were yet to be regularized by GOI as directed by Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The State Government however, continued to operate 5 to 12 posts in Chief Secretary’s grade from March 2007 to June 2013 against the sanctioned strength of two4 (from 25 August 2003 to 12 October 2010) to three5 (from 13 October 2010 to June 2013) posts. It is pertinent to mention here that the promotion to Chief Secretary’s Grade was made without constituting the Screening Committee in contravention of the above said instructions of GOI. This resulted in irregular expenditure of ` 5.37 crore from the period March 2007 to June 2013. The matter was discussed in the exit conference (January 2014) where the Chief Secretary (CS) stated that there was very less financial implication in promoting the officers to the Additional Chief Secretary’s (ACS) grade as all of them had reached at the maximum of their pay scales as such total expenditure of their pay and allowances amounting to 5.37 crore may not be treated as irregular. He further intimated that this time, a screening committee was constituted headed by the CS and an Additional Secretary level officer from GOI was also present in the meeting. The CS also stated that State Government would continue to operate these posts of ACSs in future also due to requirement of work and this was being done by almost all the States. The contention of the CS was not acceptable as the appointment of excess posts as against the prescribed strength was irregular and against the instructions of GOI. The PAC had also asked the Government to obtain approval from the GOI but had not been obtained so far (January 2014). Further, the expenditure on the pay and allowances was treated as irregular because officers were allowed Chief Secretary’s grade in contravention to the rules and GOI instructions. Rattan Singh Dhillon , Dn Divakar , Dharam Vir Hooda , Sampat Singh , Ram Bilas Sharma , Rattan Lal Kataria , Kapil Vij
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 12:04:31 +0000
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