Standards / canons of financial propriety

Standards / canons of financial propriety

(Most important question and asked many times in a examination)

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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