GFR 2017: General System of Financial Management
GFR-2017 General System of Financial Management
- Rule 7:
- Rule 8:
- Rule 9:
- Rule 10:
- Rule 11:
- Rule 12:
- Rule 13:
- Rule 14:
- Rule 15:
- Rule 16:
- Rule 17 Miscellaneous Demands:
- Rule 18 Remission of Revenue:
- Rule 19:
- Rule 20:
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES RELATING TO EXPENDITURE AND PAYMENT OF MONEY - Rule 21 Standards of financial propriety:
- Rule 22 Expenditure from Public Funds:
- Rule 23 Delegation of Financial Powers:
- Rule 24 Consultation with Financial Advisers:
- Rule 25:
- Rule 26 Responsibility of Controlling Officer in
respect of Budget allocation:
- Rule 27:
- Rule 28:
- Rule 29 Procedure for communication of
sanctions:
- Rule 30 Lapse of Sanctions:
- Rule 31:
- Rule 32 Remission of disallowances by Audit
and writing off of overpayment made to
Government servants:
II. DEFALCATION AND LOSSES
- Rule 33 Losses:
- Rule 34 Loss of Government Property due to
fire, theft, fraud:
- Rule 35 Loss of immovable property by fire,
flood etc:
- Rule 36 Report to Audit and Accounts Officers:
- Rule 37 Responsibility of losses:
- Rule 38 Prompt disposal of cases of loss:
III. SUBMISSION OF RECORDS AND INFORMATION
- Rule 39 Demand for information by Audit or
Accounts Officer:
- Rule 40:
- Rule 41:
Rule 7
All moneys received by or on behalf of the Government either as dues of Government or for deposit, remittance or otherwise, shall be brought into Government Account without delay, in accordance with such general or special rules as may be issued under Articles 150 and 283 (1) of the Constitution.
Rule 8
(i) Under Article 284 of the Constitution all moneys received by or deposited with any officer employed in connection with the
affairs of the Union in his capacity as such, other than revenues or public moneys raised or received by Government, shall be paid into the Public Account.
(ii) All moneys received by or deposited with the Supreme Court of India or with any other Court,
other than a High Court, within a Union Territory, shall also be dealt with in accordance with Clause (i) of sub-rule (1).
2) The Head of Account to which such moneys shall be credited and the withdrawal of moneys therefrom shall be governed by the relevant provisions of Government Accounting Rules 1990 and the Central Government Account (Receipts and Payments) Rules, 1983 or such other general or special orders as may be issued in this behalf.
Rule 9
It is the duty of the Department of the Central Government concerned to ensure that the receipts and dues of the Government are correctly and promptly assessed, collected and duly credited to the Consolidated Fund or Public Account as the case may be.
Rule 10
The Controlling Officer shall arrange to obtain from his subordinate officers monthly accounts and returns in suitable form claiming credit for the amounts paid into the treasury or bank as the case may be, or otherwise accounted for, and compare them with the statements of credits furnished by the Accounts Officer to see that the amounts reported as collected have been duly credited. Accordingly, each Accounts Officer will send an extract from his accounts showing the amounts brought to credit in the accounts in each month to the Controlling Officer concerned.
Rule 11
(1)Detailed rules and procedure regarding assessment, collection, allocation,remission and abandonment of revenue and other receipts shall be laid down in the regulations of the Department responsible for the same
2) In Departments in which officers are required to receive moneys on behalf of Government and issue receipts therefore
in Form GAR-6 the departmental regulations should provide for the maintenance of a proper account of the receipt and issue of the receipt books, the number of receipt books to be issued at a time to each officer and a check with the officer’s accounts of the used books when
returned.
Rule 12
Amounts due to Government shall not be left outstanding without sufficient reasons. Where such amounts appear to be irrecoverable, the orders of the competent authority shall be obtained for their adjustment
Rule 13
Unless specially authorized by any rule or order made by competent authority, no sums shall be credited as revenue by debit to a suspense head. The credit must follow and not precede actual realization
Rule 14
Subject to any general or special orders issued by a Department of the Central Government, an Administrator or a Head of a Department responsible for the collection of revenue shall keep the Finance Ministry fully informed of the progress of collection of revenue under his control and of all important variations in such collections as compared with the Budget Estimates
Rule 15
1)Rents of buildings and lands. When
the maintenance of any rentable building is
entrusted to a civil department, other than
the Central Public Works Department, the
Administrator or the Head of the
Department concerned shall be
responsible for the due recovery of the rent
thereof.
2) The procedure for the assessment and
recovery of rent of any building hired out
will be regulated generally by the rules
applicable to buildings under the direct
charge of the Central Public Works
Department.
3) The detailed rules and procedure,
regarding the demand and recovery of rent
of Government buildings and lands, are
contained in the departmental regulations
of the departments in charge of those
buildings.
Rule 16
(1)Fines. Every authority having the power
to impose and/ or realize a fine shall ensure that the money is realized, duly
checked and deposited into a treasury or
bank as the case may be.
(2) Every authority having the power to
refund fines shall ensure that the refunds
are checked and no double refunds of
amounts of fines collected or refunds of
fines not actually paid into a treasury or
bank as the case may be, are made
Rule 17 Miscellaneous Demands:
Miscellaneous Demands. Accounts Officers shall watch the realization of miscellaneous demands of Government, not falling under the ordinary revenue administration, such as contributions from State Governments, Local Funds, contractors and others towards establishment charges.
Rule 18 Remission of Revenue:
A claim to revenue shall not be remitted or abandoned save with the sanction of the competent authority.
Rule 19
(1) Subject to any general or special orders
issued by the Government Departments of
the Central Government, Administrators
and Heads of Departments, other than
those in the Department of Posts, shall
submit annually on the 1st of June to the
Audit Officer and the Accounts Officer
concerned, statements showing the
remissions of revenue and abandonment
of claims to revenue sanctioned during the
preceding year by competent authorities in
exercise of the discretionary powers
vested in them otherwise than by law or
rule having the force of law, provided that
individual remissions below Rupees one
thousand need not be included in the
statements.
(2)For inclusion in the statements referred
to in Rule 19 (1) above, remissions and
abandonments should be classified
broadly with reference to the grounds on
which they were sanctioned and a total
figure should be given for each class. A
brief explanation of the circumstances
leading to the remission should be added
in the case of each class.
Rule 20
Departments of the Central Government and Administrators may make rules defining remissions and abandonments of revenue for the purpose of Rule 19 above.
Rule 21 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.
Rule 22 Expenditure from Public Funds:
No authority may incur any expenditure or enter into any liability involving expenditure or transfer of moneys for investment or deposit from public funds (Consolidated Fund / Contingency Fund and the Public Accounts) unless the same has been sanctioned by a competent authority.
Rule 23 Delegation of Financial Powers:
The financial powers of the Government have been delegated to various subordinate authorities vide Delegation of Financial Powers Rules as amended from time to time. The financial powers of the Government, which have not been delegated to a subordinate authority, shall vest in the Finance Ministry.
Rule 24 Consultation with Financial Advisers:
All draft memoranda for Expenditure Finance Committee or Public Investment Bureau or Committee on Establishment Expenditure and Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs or Cabinet shall be circulated by the Ministry or Department concerned after consultation with the concerned Financial Adviser of the Ministry or Department. A confirmation to this effect shall be included in the draft memorandum at the circulation stage.
Rule 25 Provision of funds for sanction:
(1) Provision of funds for sanction. All
sanctions to the expenditure shall indicate
the details of the provisions in the relevant
grant or appropriation wherefrom such
expenditure is to be met.
(2) All proposals for sanction to
expenditure, shall indicate whether such
expenditure can be met by valid
appropriation or re- appropriation.
(3) In cases where it becomes necessary
to issue a sanction to expenditure before
funds are communicated, the sanction
should specify that such expenditure is
subjected to funds being communicated in
the budget of the year
Rule 26 Responsibility of Controlling Officer in respect of Budget allocation:
The duties and responsibilities of a controlling officer in respect of funds placed at his disposal are to ensure:
(i) that the expenditure does not
exceed the budget allocation.
(ii) that the expenditure is incurred for
the purpose for which funds have
been provided.
(iii) that the expenditure is incurred in
public interest.
(iv) that adequate control mechanism
is functioning in his Department for
prevention, detection of errors and
irregularities in the financial
proceedings of his subordinate
offices and to guard against waste
and loss of public money
Rule 27:
(1) Date of effect of sanction. Subject to
fulfillment of the provisions as contained in
the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules,
all rules, sanctions or orders shall come
into force from the date of issue unless any
other date from which they shall come into
force is specified therein.
(2) Date of creation to be indicated in
sanctions for temporary posts. Orders
sanctioning the creation of a temporary
post should, in addition to the sanctioned
duration, invariably specify the date from
which it is to be created
Rule 28:
Powers in regard to certain special
matters.— Except in pursuance of the
general delegation made by, or with the
approval of the President, a subordinate
authority shall not, without the previous
consent of the Finance Ministry, issue an
order which-
(i) involves any grant of land, or
assignment of revenue, or concession, grant, lease or licence
of mineral or forest rights, or rights
to water, power or any easement
or privilege of such concessions,
or
(ii) involves relinquishment of revenue
in any way
Rule 29 Procedure for communication of sanctions:
All financial sanctions and
orders issued by a competent authority
shall be communicated to the Audit Officer
and the Accounts Officer. The procedure to
be followed for communication of financial
sanctions and orders will be as under:-
(i) All financial sanctions issued by a
Department of the Central
Government which relate to a
matter concerning the Department
proper and on the basis of which
payment is to be made or
authorized by the Accounts Officer,
should be addressed to him.
(ii) All other sanctions should be
accorded in the form of an Order,
which need not be addressed to
any authority, but a copy thereof
should be endorsed to the
Accounts Officer concerned.
(iii) In the case of non-recurring
contingent and miscellaneous
expenditure, the sanctioning
authority may, where required,
accord sanction by signing or
countersigning the bill or voucher,
whether before or after the money
is drawn, instead of by a separate
sanction.
(iv) All financial sanctions and orders
issued by a Department of the
Central Government with the
concurrence of the Internal
Finance Wing or Finance Ministry,
as applicable, should be
communicated to the Accounts
Officer in accordance with the
procedure laid down in the
Delegation of Financial Powers
Rules, and orders issued
thereunder from time to time.
(v) All financial sanctions and orders
issued by a Department with the
concurrence of the Ministry of
Home Affairs or Comptroller and
Auditor General of India or
Department of Personnel should
specify that the sanction or orders
are issued with the concurrence of
that Department along with the
number and date of relevant communication of that Department
wherein the concurrence was
conveyed.
(vi) All orders conveying sanctions to
expenditure of a definite amount or
upto a specific limit should express
both in words and figures the
amount of expenditure sanctioned.
(vii) Sanctions accorded by a Head of
Department may be communicated
to the Accounts Officer by an
authorized Gazetted Officer of his
Office duly signed by him for the
Head of Department or conveyed
in the name of the Head of the
Department.
(viii) All orders conveying sanctions to
the grant of additions to pay such
as Special Allowance, Personal
Pay, etc., should contain a brief
summary of the reasons for the
grant of such additions to pay so
as to enable the Accounts Officer
to see that it is correctly termed as
Special Allowance, Personal Pay,
etc., as the case may be.
(ix) Orders issued by a Department of
a Union Territory Government
where Audit and Accounts
(a) have
not been separated shall be
communicated direct to the Audit
authority;
(b) have been separated,
copies shall be endorsed to the
Audit authorities.
In case of sanctions in respect of
matters, where reference was
made to the Central Government
under the Rules of Business
framed under Section 46 of the
Government of Union Territory Act,
1963, the following clause shall be
added in the sanction endorsed to
Audit:-
“A reference had been made in
this case to the Central
Government and the above
order/letter conforms to the
decision of the Central
Government vide Government of
India , Ministry/Department of
Letter No…………dated… ”.
(x) Copies of all General Financial
Orders issued by a Department of
the Central Government with the
concurrence of the Comptroller
and Auditor General of India shall
be supplied to the Comptroller and
Auditor General of India.
(xi) Copies of all sanctions or orders other than the following types
should be endorsed to the Audit
Officers:-
(a) Sanctions relating to grant to
advances to Central
Government employees.
(b) Sanctions relating to
appointment or promotion or
transfer of Gazetted and non-Gazetted Officers.
(c) All sanctions relating to
creation or continuation or
abolition of posts.
(d) Sanctions for handing over
charge and taking over
charge, etc.
(e) Sanctions relating to payment
or withdrawal of General
Provident Fund advances to
Government servants.
(f) Sanctions of contingent
expenditure incurred under
the powers of Head of Offices.
(g) Other sanctions of routine
nature issued by Heads of
Subordinate Officers (other
than those issued by
Ministries or Departments
proper and under powers of a
Head of Department).
(xii) Sanctions accorded by competent
authority to grants of land and
alienation of land revenue, other
than those in which assignments of
land revenue are treated as cash
payment, shall be communicated
to the Audit and/ or the Accounts
Officer, as the case may be, in a
consolidated monthly return giving
the necessary details.
Rule 30 Lapse of Sanctions:
A sanction for any fresh charge shall, unless it is specifically
renewed, lapse if no payment in whole or
in part has been made during a period of
twelve months from the date of issue of
such sanction. Provided that -
(i) when the period of currency of the
sanction is prescribed in the
departmental regulations or is
specified in the sanction itself, it
shall lapse on the expiry of such
periods; or
(ii) when there is a specific provision
in a sanction that the expenditure
would be met from the Budget
provision of a specified financial
year, it shall lapse at the close of
that financial year; or
(iii) in the case of purchase of stores, a sanction shall not lapse, if tenders
have been accepted (in the case of
local or direct purchase of stores)
or the indent has been placed (in
the case of Central Purchases) on
the Central Purchase Organization
within the period of one year of the
date of issue of that sanction, even
if the actual payment in whole or in
part has not been made during the
said period.
Rule 31:
Notwithstanding anything contained in Rule 30, a sanction in respect of an addition to a permanent establishment, made from year to year under a general scheme by a competent authority, or in respect of an allowance sanctioned for a post or for a class of Government servants, but not drawn by the officer(s) concerned, shall not lapse
Rule 32 Remission of disallowances by Audit and writing off of overpayment made to Government servants:
The remission of disallowances by Audit and writing off of overpayments made to Government servants by competent authorities shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, and instructions issued thereunder.
II. DEFALCATION AND LOSSES
Rule 33 Report of Losses:
(1) Report of Losses. Any loss or
shortage of public moneys, departmental
revenue or receipts, stamps, opium, stores
or other property held by, or on behalf of,
Government irrespective of the cause of
loss and manner of detection, shall be
immediately reported by the subordinate
authority concerned to the next higher
authority as well as to the Statutory Audit
Officer and to the concerned Principal
Accounts Officer, even when such loss has
been made good by the party responsible
for it. However the following losses need
not be reported:
(i) Cases involving losses of revenue
due to
(a) mistakes in assessments
which are discovered too late
to permit a supplementary
claim being made,
(b) under assessments which are
due to interpretation of the law
by the local authority being
overruled by higher authority
after the expiry of the time-limit prescribed under the law,
and
c) refunds allowed on the ground
that the claims were time-barred:
(ii) Petty losses of value not
exceeding Rupees ten thousand.
2) Cases involving serious irregularities
shall be brought to the notice of Financial
Adviser or Chief Accounting Authority of
the Ministry or Department concerned and
the Controller General of Accounts,
Ministry of Finance.
(3) Report of loss contemplated in sub-rule
(1) & (2) shall be made at two stages.—
(i) An initial report should be made as
soon as a suspicion arises that a
loss has taken place.
(ii) The final report should be sent to
authorities indicated in sub rule (1)
& (2) after investigation indicating
nature and extent of loss, errors or
neglect of rules by which the loss
has been caused and the
prospects of recovery.
4) The complete report contemplated in
sub- rule 3, shall reach through proper
channels to the Head of the Department,
who shall finally dispose of the same under
the powers delegated to him under the
Delegation of Financial Power Rules. The
reports, which he cannot finally dispose of
under the delegated powers, shall be
submitted to the Finance Ministry.
(5) An amount lost through
misappropriation, defalcation,
embezzlement, etc., may be redrawn on a
simple receipt pending investigation,
recovery or write-off with the approval of
the authority competent to write-off the loss
in question.
(6) In cases of loss to Government on
account of culpability of Government
servants, the loss should be borne by the
Central Government Department or State
Government concerned with the
transaction. Similarly, if any recoveries are
made from the erring Government officials
in cash, the receipt will be credited to the
Central Government Department or the
State Government who sustained the loss.
(7) All cases involving loss of Government
money arising from erroneous or irregular
issue of cheques or irregular accounting of
receipts will be reported to the Controller
General of Accounts along with the
circumstances leading to the loss, so that
he can take steps to remedy defects in
rules or procedures, if any, connected
therewith.
Rule 34 Loss of Government Property due to fire, theft, fraud:
Departmental Officers shall, in addition to taking action as prescribed in Rule 33, follow the provisions indicated below in cases involving material loss or destruction of Government property as a result of fire, theft, fraud, etc. All losses above the value of Rupees Fifty thousand (Rs. 50,000/-)due to suspected fire, theft, fraud, etc., shall be invariably reported to the Police for investigation as early as possible. Once the matter is reported to the Police Authorities, all concerned should assist the Police in their investigation. A formal investigation report should be obtained from the Police Authorities in all cases, which are referred to them.
Rule 35 Loss of immovable property by fire, flood etc:
All loss of immovable property exceeding Rupees fifty thousand (Rs. 50,000/-) , such as buildings, communications, or other works, caused by fire, flood, cyclone, earthquake or any other natural cause, shall be reported at once by the subordinate authority concerned to Government through the usual channel. All other losses should be immediately brought to the notice of the next higher authority.
Rule 36 Report to Audit and Accounts Officers:
After a full enquiry as to the cause and the extent of the loss has been made, the detailed report should be sent by the subordinate authority concerned to Government through the proper channel; a copy of the report or an abstract thereof being simultaneously forwarded to the Audit officer and Pay and Accounts Officer
Rule 37 Responsibility of losses:
An officer shall
be held personally responsible for any loss
sustained by the Government through
fraud or negligence on his part. He will also
be held personally responsible for any loss arising from fraud or negligence of any
other officer to the extent to which it may
be shown that he contributed to the loss by
his own action or negligence.
The departmental proceedings for
assessment of responsibility for the loss
shall be conducted according to the
instructions contained in Appendix 1 and
those issued by the Ministry of Personnel
from time to time.
Rule 38 Prompt disposal of cases of loss:
Action at each stage of detection, reporting, write off, final disposal, in cases of losses including action against delinquents and remedial measures should be completed promptly with special attention to action against delinquents and remedial measures, taken to strengthen the control system
III. SUBMISSION OF RECORDS AND INFORMATION
Rule 39 Demand for information by Audit or Accounts Officer:
A subordinate authority shall afford all reasonable facilities to the Audit Officer and Pay and Accounts Officer for the discharge of his functions, and furnish fullest possible information required by him for the preparation of any official account or report, payments and internal audit.
Rule 40:
A subordinate authority shall not withhold any information, books or other documents required by the Audit Officer or Accounts Officer
Rule 41:
If the contents of any file are categorized as ‘Secret’ or ‘Top Secret’ the file maybe sent personally to the Head of the Audit Office specifying this fact, who will then deal with it in accordance with the standing instructions for handling and custody of such classified documents.