CHAPTER-I SHORT TITLE, COMMENCEMENT AND DEFINITION (1) These rules may be called "The Meghalaya Delegation of Financial Power Rules, 2006" (2) They shall come into force with effect from the date of publication In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires. (a) 'Accountant General, means the Accountant General,(A&E/Audit) Meghalaya. (b) 'Administrative approval' means the formal acceptance by the Department concerned of the proposal for an original work (other than a petty work costing Rs. 50,000 or under) to be undertaken for the department either by the Public Work Department or the Department to which the work may have been assigned by the Governor. Taking with the provision of funds in the budget it operates as a financial sanction to the work. (c) 'Administrative Department 'means the administrative Department of the Government of Meghalaya as notified from time to time. (d) 'Appropriation' means the allotment of a particular sum of money by a competent authority from funds placed at his disposal, to meet specific expenditure. (e) 'Finance Department' means the Finance Department of the Government of Meghalaya. (f) 'Financial Sanction 'means the sanction of Government or of an authority to which power has been delegated to incur expenditure of Public money for a specific purpose, and is subject to appropriation of funds. (g) 'Financial Year' means the period from 1st April to 31st March. (h) 'Government' means the Government of Meghalaya. (i) 'Governor' means the Governor of Meghalaya. (j) 'Head of Department' means an authority empowered by Government to exercise the powers of the Head of Department specified in these rules. A List of such authority is given in Schedule V to these rules. (k) 'Head of an Office' means a Government Servant recognized as such by Government or the Head of the Department under whom he may be employed. (l) 'Non-recurring expenditure' means an expenditure sanctioned as a lump-sum charge, whether the money be paid as lump-sum or by installments. (m) 'Purchase Board' means a Board constituted under these rules. (n) 'Re-appropriation' means the transfer of funds from one sub-head of appropriation to another sub-head. (o) 'Re-recurring Expenditure' means all expenditure which is non-recurring. (p) 'Subordinate authority'; means any authority subordinate to the Governor or the State Government and includes a Department of Government (q) 'Technical sanction' means the order of a competent authority sanctioning a properly detailed estimate of the cost of the work of construction or repair to be carried out in the Public works Department or any other Department of the Government. (r) 'Tender Committee' means a Committee constituted under these rules. (s) 'Year' means a financial year. CHAPTER-II DEVOLUTION OF POWER (1) Under Article 154 of the Constitution, the executive power of the State vests in the Governor and is to be exercised by him either directly or through officer subordinate to him in accordance with Constitution. (2) All executive action of the Government shall be expressed to be taken in the name of the Governor as laid down in Clause (1) of Article 166 of the Constitution and all orders of instruments made and executed in the name of the Governor shall be authenticated in accordance with such rules as the Governor may make under Clause (2) of Article 166 of the Constitution. CHAPTER-III FINANCIAL POWERS Section-I (GENERAL) No charge, which binds Government beyond a single payment, may be incurred without the sanction of the Government or of the subordinate authority to which powers has been delegated. Exceptions-As an exception to the rules, sanction of Government is not required to the payment of the following kinds of expenditure- (a) Payment of Cantonment of Municipal Taxes, whatever be the amount, when such taxes have been assessed by competent authority; (b) Payment of charges for water and electric energy consumed in an office; (c) Services postage and telegram charges; (d) Payment of telephone charges as authorized excluding charges for installation and shifting of telephone connection; The power of Government may be delegated under, and subject to the provisions of Article 154 of the constitution to any authority subordinate to the Government to such an extent and subject to such restrictions as the Government may deem necessary to impose or as may have already imposed by the provision of the Constitution, or rules and orders of the Government or an Act of the State Legislature. The conditions and restrictions subject to which such powers are delegated should be specified in the rules or orders making the delegation. The exercise of delegated powers shall be subject to the conditions and restrictions mentioned in the rules and to the observance of the general rules or special instructions issued by government from time to time. (1) In all cases the following four fundamental conditions must be fulfilled before Government money can be used for any kind of expenditure or paid or advanced to any person for any purpose, namely. (a) that public revenue may be spent only on legitimate objects of public expenditure; (b) that there is specific authority or sanction to incur the expenditure or make the payment or advance the money; (c) The authority or sanction to incur the expenditure or make the payment or advance, shall not be operative unless funds to meet it have been appropriated by competent authority in accordance with the rules contained in the Budget Manual; and (d) no breach of any standard of financial propriety is involved. (2) A subordinate authority may sanction expenditure or advances or of public money in those cases only in which it is authorized to do so by:- (i) the provisions of any legislative enactment for the time being in force or of rules made under such an enactment; or (ii) the codes, manuals and regulations issued by the Governor or the Government; or (iii) any order of the Governor or the Government delegating their powers with reference to the provisions of a legislative enactment or to rules approved or orders issued by the Governor or the Government; or (iv) any order of the Governor or the Government laying down a scale or maximum scale of expenditure or (v) these rules and the schedules to these rules. (3) Nothing contained in sub-rules (2) above shall empower any subordinate authority to sanction without the previous consent of the Finance Department an expenditure which involves the introduction of a new principle, policy or practice of any expenditure on a 'new service' likely to lead to increase of expenditure. (1) All sanctions take effect, unless otherwise specified, from the date of the orders communicating them. (2) Sanction to any given expenditure become operative as soon as funds have been appropriated to meet the expenditure and does not become operative until funds have been so appropriated. (3) Sanction to recurring expenditure covering a specified term of years becomes operative when funds are appropriated to meet the expenditure for the first year and remains effective for each year of specified terms subject to appropriation in such years and subject to the term of the sanction. A financial sanction for any fresh charge, which has not been acted upon within the financial year in which it is issued must be held to have lapsed, unless it is specially renewed with necessary provision of funds. Note:-This rule does not apply to a case where an allowance sanctioned for a post of a class of Government servants has not been drawn by a particular incumbent of the post or a particular set of Government servants nor does it apply to a additions made gradually from year to year to a permanent establishments under a general scheme which has been sanctioned by a proper authority. Wherever the consent or sanction of the Finance Department is required by these rules or orders in force, such consent or sanction shall be expressed in writing and communicated to the Accountant General by that Department. Orders conveying the sanction of expenditure or advance of public money shall be communicated as follows- (a) if the order is issued by an Administrative Department in exercise of the powers delegated under these rules, by the Principal Secretary, Commissioner and Secretary, Secretary, Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary of the Department or by any other officer as may be specifically empowered under rule 12 of the Meghalaya Rules of Executive Business. (b) If the order is issued by a Head of a Department or an authority subordinate to them to whom the power to sanction has been delegated by that authority or by any Gazette officer authorized with the approval of the Finance Department to sign for him. Provided that the copies of the sanctioning memorandum for the Accountant General shall be forwarded by the Financial Adviser in the case of the Administrative Department and by the Finance and Account Officer in the case of the Heads of Department where such officers exist. (c) If the order is issued by the Governor relating to his own establishment, by the Secretary to the Governor. (d) The sanctioning authority should in each case intimate to the Accountant General how the expenditure is proposed to be met. Section-II (APPROPRIATION AND RE-APPROPRIATION) Rule 38 of the Meghalaya rules of executive Business empower the Finance Department to sanction or authorize any re-appropriation within a Grant from one Major, Minor or sub-head to another, subject to the following restrictions- (i) Permissible re-appropriation can be sanctioned at any time within the year but not after expiry of the year. (ii) No re-appropriation shall be made for any purpose whatsoever from supplementary grant voted by the Assembly for a definite purpose, as to ensure that a supplementary grant shall be used for the purpose for which it is voted and for no other. 'The same principle applies to supplementary charged appropriation; (iii) No re-appropriation is admissible from a charged head to a voted head or vice-versa; (iv) No re-appropriation is admissible from a Capital head to Revenue head or vice-versa; (v) Re-appropriation to the head 'Secret Service Expenditure' in excess of 25 percent of the original provision made under the budget may be made only with prior consultation with the Accountant General. The following subordinate authorities have been authorized to sanction re-appropriation within the heads subordinate to a minor heads subject to the conditions laid down below- (1) Administrative Department to sanction within a Grant, between heads subordinate to a minor heads, any re-appropriation which does not involve the undertaking of a recurring liability. (2) Heads of Department are authorized to sanction re-appropriation within the heads subordinate to a minor heads, subject to the condition laid down below- (a) that funds must not be re appropriated to meet an item of expenditure which has not been sanctioned by proper authority; (b) that the re-appropriation does not involve the under-taking of a liability which is likely to extend beyond the financial year concerned; (c) that funds provided for General Area should not be re-appropriation to provisions for Sixth Schedule (Part A) Areas and vice-versa; (d) that no re-appropriation shall be made from saving under 'Salaries' and Wages; (e) that the re-appropriation is not made for a new service not contemplated in the budget for the year nor for an object not specifically included in the estimate and for which no provision has been made for the year concerned; (f) that the re-appropriation has not the effect of increasing the expenditure on any item, the provision of which has been specifically reduced by a vote of the Assembly. The following instructions apply to re-appropriation in the Public work Department Budget:- (i) The provision for original works in each department form a separate sub-head under the minor head 'Construction' Administrative Department of Public works Department can re-appropriate between items included in any one of these sub-heads. Finance Department can re-appropriate from one minor head to another. (ii) Savings under the 'Major Works' sub-head/detailed head are not regarded as earmarked for the department concerned but may be freely re-appropriated by Finance Department to meet urgent demands under another such sub-heads/detailed heads. (iii) Ordinarily, re-appropriation may be made from savings on works only for (1) Works in progress (2) Works (not amounting to new services in the primary sense of the term) which can be completed within the year. Exception to this rule may be made in certain cases, e.g. where a building, road, embankment or construction has been destroyed or so damaged that it must be rebuilt or repaired without delay. In such cases re-appropriation from savings may be allowed even though the work cannot be completed within the year. Copies of orders sanctioning any re-appropriation must be communicated to the Account General and Finance Department as soon as such orders are passed. In all cases of re-appropriation sanctioned either by the controlling officers or by the Government-a re-appropriation should invariably be used in the prescribed form. In case where Government sanction is required, the statement should be submitted in triplicate. The Finance Department will not sanction re-appropriation received after 15th March. Section-III (POWERS TO CREATE POSTS) (1) No post can be created without the proposal being recommended by the Screening Committee and without specific approval of Finance Department. (2) A subordinate authority has no power to create or abolish permanent posts or make additions or reduction in the permanent cadre of a service, nor the powers to fix or vary the rates of pay or allowances. (3) The creation of posts shall be subject to such restrictions as the Government may deem fit to impose in each case and the following are general restrictions and conditions- (i) The expenditure involved is covered by or is within the limit of, appropriation made for the purpose under the head of the appropriation concerned (ii) The post or establishment is really required in addition to the full strength of the staff already sanctioned for the purpose; (iii) The period for which a temporary posts is created does not exceed twelve months or such shorter period as may be specified in the order, delegating the power and does not in any case extend beyond the last day of the financial year concerned; (iv) No post shall be created in any office or department unless there exists in that office or department a post of similar character on a rate or scale of pay approved by the Governor; and (v) The power to create temporary post shall not, unless otherwise directed by the Governor, be exercised in respect of any service unless the service is under the control of that authority. Section-IV (GRANTS-IN-AIDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, STIPENDS, ETC) Departments of Government have been delegated with full powers to sanction loan and sanction and renew grants-in-aid including scholarships and stipends subject to the following general conditions- (a) such grant-in-aid, loan scholarships and stipends are in accordance with the rules, schemes or principles prescribed with the previous consent of Finance Department. (b) In sanctioning loans, grant-in-aid, scholarship and stipends, the sanctioning authority should indicate that the provision of clause (a) above has been complied with; (c) The rules regarding sanction and audit of grant-in-aid contained in appendix 14 of the Meghalaya Financial rules should be strictly observed; and (d) The rate of interest on loans and the period of repayment thereof are fixed with the previous consent of the Finance Department unless the rate of interest on loans and the periods of repayment thereof are prescribed in any general or special order of the Department Section-V (STORE AND OTHER MOVEABLE PROPERTIES) All transactions regarding acquisition and purchase of the Government stores, stocks etc. require the sanction of Government. The Government have, however, delegated their powers in respect of these matters to certain subordinate authorities. Such Powers and the conditions and restrictions prescribed thereto are indicated in the specified items contained in Schedule II and IV to these rules. Department of Government have been given full power of sanction for purchase of instruments, appliances, apparatus, machineries tools and plants stores etc. when the purchase is made through a duly constituted Purchase Board. Departments requiring bulk purchase of such materials may constitute their own Departmental Purchase Board. Detailed guidelines are contained at Annexure-I to these Rules. Section-VI (CONTRACT AND TENDER) Department of the Government and their subordinate authorities have been delegated with the powers to invite and accept tenders and to enter into con tract for the execution of works subject to the restrictions and conditions prescribed against the relevant items in the Schedules to these rules. Administrative Department have full power to accept tender. Department responsible for execution of works of constructions and repairs may constitute their own Department Tender Committee. Detailed guidelines are contained at Annexure I to these rules. Section VII (WRITE OFF LOSSES) Save as provided in this section, no subordinate authority has the power to write off finally the irrecoverable value of stores or Government money lost by fraud or the negligence of individuals or owing to other causes. In specified cases, mentioned in the Schedules annexed to these rules, subordinate authorities have been authorized to write off losses, subject to the following conditions- (a) the amount of any write off in any individuals case shall not exceed such maximum limit or limits as the Government may, by rules, or orders specify for each subordinate authority, and (b) the loss does not disclose (1) a defect of the system, the amendment of which requires the orders of higher authority, or (ii) serious negligence on the part of some individual officer or officers which might possibly call for disciplinary actions requiring the orders of higher authority. Note- (1) All sanctions to write off under this rule, should be communicated to the Accountant General, who will scrutinize cases and bring to the notice of the Government any defect of the system or rules requiring their attention. (2) This rule, does not apply to losses of cash in Treasuries whether in the course of remittance or out of the Treasury balance. Individual cases of such losses should be reported to Government for orders. Section-VIII (EXERCISE OF POWERS) (1) Subject to the provision of these rules, the Departments of the Government, Heads of Department and other authorities subordinate to them shall in relation to renewal of sanction for staff and schemes, sanction of works expenditure, incurring of contingent expenditure etc. shall have the powers specified in the following Schedules appended to these rules- A-GENERAL POWERS - These powers are applicable to all Departments. (i) Schedule I - Powers delegated to Administrative Department. (ii) Schedule II - Powers delegated to Heads of Department. (iii) Schedule III - Powers delegated to District Officers and other heads of offices. B. SPECIFIC POWERS Schedule IV - These powers are applicable only to a particular Department specifically delegated to it. Provided that the power delegated to subordinate authority can also be exercised by higher authority in relation to such subordinate authority. (2) A subordinate authority shall in regard to matters not covered by either of the Schedules I to IV exercise such powers as may be specified from time to time by general or special orders of the Governor or of the Government. (3) An Authority empowered by or under these rules to incur expenditure on 'Office expenses' or 'materials and supplies' etc. shall exercise such power subject to the following conditions, namely- (a) the rules for the supply of articles contained in Appendix 10 of the Meghalaya Financial Rules and the general or special orders on the subject issued by Government from time to time shall be followed. (b) in incurring or sanctioning expenditure on the items specified in column 2 of the Schedules to these rules, the conditions and restrictions or scales specified in the foregoing rules and in column 4 of the Schedules I, II and III and column 5 of Schedule IV against items shall be strictly followed; (c) In regard to any other expenditure, any rules, orders, restrictions or scales as may be made, imposed or prescribed by the Governor or Government shall be observed; (d) No expenditure on any item of an unusual character involving any departure from the rules, orders, restrictions or scales referred in clauses (b) and (c) shall be incurred nor shall any liability be undertaken in connection therewith, without the previous consent of the Finance Department. MEGHALAYA DELEGATION OF FINANCE POWER RULES, 2006
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