The Centralisation of Financial Powers and Office Functions to The HODs : In Dire Need of An Urgent Review

The Administrative Training Institute Kohima under the Leadership of the Director General of ATI. Shri R. B. Thong, IAS had initiated the District Training programs for imparting training on Office procedures and Accounts rules and procedures to all the Government employees in the District offices in the 16 Districts of Nagaland. The District Training programme was successfully completed by the month of August, 2022.

As a Resource Person in the ATI’s District Training Program 2022, I was privileged to visit almost all the Districts in Nagaland and had valuable interactions with the District Officers and Staff wherever we went. I had observed that due to centralisation of Financial and Office functions to the Heads of Departments because of the Financial Management system in Government on imposing of financial austerity measures, there is hardly any work and activities in the District level offices. Therefore, thousands of the Districts Government employees and machineries are lying idle without any functions in the district offices except Deputy‘s offices and a few others.

Therefore, unless the Financial powers and the office functions are better streamlined and delegated to the District offices, opening of District offices will not add much meaning, purpose or function. Therefore, a direct Budget System for the District-level implementing authorities and proper procedural streamlining are highly needed.

Secondly, the financial Rules such as the Financial Cognate Power Rules,NPWD Code, Leave Rule set care neither up-to-date nor new rules or systems have been introduced befitting with the present situationand context which become not suitable and applicable nor enforceable to the present days. NPWD Code Rules 1964 was amended in 1997, but only the technical potions, whereas the Accounts part was left out. With regard to Leave Rules, some offices are found to be still following the 1933 Leave Rules with 1/10 Earned Leave Credit System i.e, 1 day earnest leave earned in the leave Account for 10 days  on duty while others are following the Central Revised Rules 1972, 15 days Earned Leave on  1st January and 15 days on 1st July Earned Leave Credit System.

Being under the same Government, a uniform Rule or system must be maintained. Therefore, most of the old rules are not applicable nor enforceable in the present context, and are thereby in urgent need of timely updates to add more relevance and practicality, and to be more befitting or suitable to the present situation.

Thirdly, the present Financial Management system in the Government such as validity period for Drawal authority /Drawal limit, Authentication of Drawal authorities or Drawal limit, Financial sanction orders which are actually financial austerity measures for temporary period being used as permanent Rules  or procedures for prolonged periods are creating a lot of inconveniences and distorting the actual Accounting system particularly in the cheque Drawal Department and are consequently putting the DDOs at serious risks with money becoming insecure and risky. The trend is that of, for fear of the thief, keeping huge amounts of money in unbelievable places temporarily without any security.

Therefore, the Budgetary system and the Financial Management system in Nagaland Is in dire need of an urgent review; to systematise, simplify and make convenient and secure the Government money in the best interest of the public in general. Otherwise, the Government stands at the threat of facing very deep-rooted problems in the near future if this trend continues.

A Concerned Citizen,

KHINYI WOCH

Resource Person on Accounts subjects,

ATI District Training Programme 2022.