Standards of financial propriety, Cannon of financial propriety

Rule 21  under GFR Rules 2017

Standards of financial propriety. 

Every officer incurring or authorizing expenditure from public moneys should be guided by high standards of financial propriety. Every officer should also enforce financial order and strict economy and see that all relevant financial rules and regulations are observed, by his own office and by subordinate disbursing officers. Among the principles on which emphasis is generally laid are the following :- 

(i) Every officer is expected to exercise the same vigilance in respect of expenditure incurred from public moneys as a person of ordinary prudence would exercise in respect of expenditure of his own money. 

(ii) The expenditure should not be prima facie more than the occasion demands. 

(iii) No authority should exercise its powers of sanctioning expenditure to pass an order which will be directly or indirectly to its own advantage. 

(iv) Expenditure from public moneys should not be incurred for the benefit of a particular person or a section of the people, unless -

         (a) a claim for the amount could be enforced in a Court of Law, or 

         (b) the expenditure is in pursuance of a recognized policy or custom.

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Ø Para No. 116 of Financial Code  -

Ø Rule No. 21 of GFR, 2017 ( General Finance Rules) of Dept. of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India.  Click for GFR, 2017

Ø All sanctioning authorities must pay due regard these rules/principles while exercising their financial powers.  There is false impression, that these are the norms to be followed by financial authorities (Finance officers).  But it is not correct.  All Executives/Officers as sanctioning authorities have conscious of these standards.

Ø  Every Officer should also enforce financial order and strict economy at every step and see that all relevant financial rules and regulations are observed, by his own office and by subordinate disbursing officers.

1.     The expenditure should not prima facie be more than the occasion demands. 

              (prima facie means 'at first appearance' or 'before investigation'. A proposal for purchase of chair for officer at a cost of Rs.one lakh need not requires much investigation to sanction the same.  That means on the face itself i.e., cost of the chair Rs. one lakh is not justified to incur expenditure.)

2.      That every Government servant should exercise' the same vigilance in respect of expenditure incurred from public moneys as a person of ordinary prudence would exercise in respect of the expenditure of his own money.

            (As a ordinary person, how much exercise we would be taken for purchase of Computer or Plasma Color Television, the same exercise suppose to be applied also for expenditure involved of public money)

3.      No authority should exercise its powers of sanctioning expenditure to pass an order which will be directly or indirectly to its own advantage.

                        ( Sanctioning of expenditure would not be advantage to the sanctioning authorities directly or indirectly.  That means Officer should not decided the specifications of the items to be purchased to suit the particular firm for which he or his relatives have a stake)

4.     Public moneys should not be utilized for the benefit of a particular person or section of the community unless-

 a. the amount of expenditure involved is insignificant ; or

 b. a claim for the amount could be enforced in a court of law ; or

 c. the expenditure is in pursuance of a recognized policy or custom.

5.     The amount of allowances, such as travelling allowances, granted to meet expenditure of a particular type, should be so regulated that the allowances are not on the whole sources of profit to the recipients.

                        ( People should not think that the allowances such as Travelling allowance, Over time allowance, etc as profit.  It should not be correct )

Ø Audit officers shall also be responsible for watching that the above principles are strictly observed or not.

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Cannons / Standards of Financial Propriety 

In exercise of their financial powers, the sanctioning authority must pay due attention to the following principles –

i) The expenditure should not prima facie be more than the occasion demands and that every Government should exercise the same vigilance in respect of expenditures incurred from public money as a person of ordinary prudence, would exercise in respect of expenditure of his own money.

ii) No authority should exercise its powers of sanctioning expenditure to pass an order, which will be directly or indirectly to its own advantage.

iii) Public money should not be utilized for the benefit of a particular person or section of a community unless –

a) The amount of expenditure involved is insignificant.

b) A claim for the amount could be enforced in a court of law.

c) The expenditure is in pursuance of recognized policy or custom.

iv) The amount of allowances such as travelling allowance granted to meet expenditure of a particular type should be so regulated that the allowance are not on a whole a source of profit to the recipient.

Note: All proposals involving financial implications except those which have been specifically exempted for this purpose should be referred to finance branch for advice before these are sanctioned.

वित्तीय औचित्य के मानक 

प्रत्येक खर्च करने वाले अधिकारी को खर्च की मंजूरी देते समय कुछ सिध्दांतो का पालन करना आवश्यक होता है। इन सिध्दांतो को वित्तीय औचित्य के मानक कहा जाता है ये सिध्दांत निम्न है। 

1. किसी कार्य पर खर्च प्रथम दृष्टि में अवसर की मांग से अधिक नही होने चाहिए तथा प्रत्येक खर्च करने वाले अधिकारी का यह कर्तव्य है, कि वह सरकारी धन को अपना निजी धन की तरह ही खर्च करे अर्थात जो सावधानी  एक साधारण व्यक्ति अपने स्वयं के  धन खर्च  करते में रखता है वही  सावधानी सरकारी धन करते समय रखे। 
2. खर्च करने वाले अधिकारी को किये गये खर्च में से स्वयं को प्रत्यक्ष या अप्रत्यक्ष लाभ नही होना चाहिए। 

3. सरकारी धन का उपयोग किसी व्यक्ति विशेष या जाति विशेष के लाभ के लिए नही करना चाहिए बशर्ते कि - 

1.         राशि बहुत कम हो,
2.        राशि के लिए न्यायलय में दावा किया जा सके या, 
3.        खर्च किसी मान्य रीति - रिवाज या पंरपरा के अनुकूल हो,

4.विभिन्न प्रकार के भत्ते जैसे यात्रा भत्ता आदि की स्वीकृति देते समय इस बात का ध्यान रखा जाना चाहिए कि कोई कर्मचारी उसे लाभ का साधन न बना ले। 

वित्तीय औचित्य 

वित्तीय औचित्य का व्यक्तिगत जीवन में भी महत्वपूर्ण स्थान है। एक साधारण व्यक्ति जीवन में किसी कार्य पर खर्च करने से पूर्व सोच विचार करता है, की जो खर्च वह करने जा रहा है, वह आवश्यक है या टाला जा सकता है।ऐसा व्यय निकट भविष्य में लाभप्रद रहेगा या नही, यदि लाभप्रद होगा तो कुल खर्च से कितना लाभ होगा आदि। इसी प्रकार रेलवे एक व्यापारिक संस्थान है इसलिए इसको अधिक मात्रा में अपनी परिसम्पतियो की देखरेख व मरम्मत इत्यादि पर खर्च करना पड़ता है,  इसलिए रेलवे के कार्य को सुचारू रूप से चलाने के लिए व्यय करने से पूर्व यह सोच - विचार करना पड़ता है कि प्रस्तावित कार्य पर कुल खर्च पर न्यूनतम वापसी अवश्य मिले।  

वे मदे जिन पर वित्तीय औचित्य की आवश्यकता है - 

• रहन - सहन के भवनों पर खर्च, 
• इमदादी साइडिंग पर खर्च, 
• चल स्टॉक पर खर्च, 
• परिसम्पत्तियो का निर्माण संबंधी खर्च, 
• परिसम्पतियो का बदलाव आदि, 

वे मदे जिन पर वित्तीय औचित्य की आवश्यकता नही है - 

• 2500 रूपये से कम के खर्च जो साधारण प्रकृति के है और राजस्व को चार्ज होते है, 
• वे खर्च जो कानूनी आवश्यकता के अनुसार किये जाने हो, जैसे - मशीनरी के चारो ओर प्रतिरक्षात्मक बाड़, 
• जीवन या सम्पत्ति की सुरक्षा से संबंधित कार्य, 
• रेल यात्री करने वाले या रेल यातायात को उपयोग करने वाले व्यापारियों के लिए खर्च, 
• कर्मचारी कल्याण के लिए किये जाने वाले खर्च, परंतु रेलवे कर्मचारी क्वार्टर तथा भवनों के अतिरिक्त,