📊
Government Accounting Rules, 1990
68 rules • Ministry of Finance • 1990
Government Accounting Rules prescribing the form of accounts for Union, State and UT governments, treasury transactions, debt management, and accounting classifications.
I - INTRODUCTORY
Rule 1Rule 1 establishes the formal title and commencement date of these rules. The Government Accounting Rules (GAR) 1990 came into force on 1st April 1990, rep...Rule 2Rule 2 provides precise definitions for all key terms used throughout GAR 1990. Understanding these definitions is critical because the same word can have ...Rule 3Rule 3 establishes the constitutional foundation for government accounting. It mandates that the form of accounts for the Union, States, and Union Territor...Rule 4Rule 4 deals with the preparation and certification of Annual Accounts of government. Every year, the government must prepare accounts showing all annual r...Rule 6Rule 6 creates a special dispensation for four major departments — Railways, Posts, Telecommunications, and Defence — allowing them greater flexibility in ...Rule 7Rule 7 describes the formal banking arrangement between the Central Government and the Reserve Bank of India. The Central Government has entered into a for...Rule 8Rule 8 describes how the Central Government's banking transactions with RBI and the banking system are structured, recorded, and reported. Each ministry an...Rule 9Rule 9 describes the banking arrangements for State Governments with RBI, which mirror the Central Government's arrangement described in Rule 7. Each State...Rule 10Rule 10 explains how RBI or SBI branches keep separate accounts for each State Government and how these transaction records flow to the State Treasury Offi...Rule 11Rule 11 establishes CAS Nagpur as the central clearing house for all inter-governmental financial adjustments. All adjustments between different State Gove...Rule 12Rule 12 deals with Central Government treasuries — a relatively narrow category that exists only in Union Territories whose accounts have not been separate...Rule 13Rule 13 deals with the mirror situation to Rule 12 — handling Central Government and other States' transactions at State treasuries. State treasuries, gove...Rule 14Rule 14 provides a comprehensive overview of how Central Government accounts are fed from multiple sources — the 'feeder network' — and how they flow throu...Rule 15Rule 15 describes the feeder network and accounting system for State and Union Territory Governments — essentially the same comprehensive overview as Rule ...Rule 17Rule 17 assigns formal responsibility for preparing Annual Accounts to specific authorities at the Central, State, and Union Territory level. This is the r...Rule 18Rule 18 addresses proforma accounts — a special category of accounts maintained outside the regular government accounts for commercially or quasi-commercia...Rule 20Rule 20 defines the accounting period for government accounts — the financial year running from 1st April to 31st March. This is fundamental to all governm...Rule 21Rule 21 establishes the fundamental principle that government accounts are maintained on a cash basis. This means the accounts record only actual cash rece...Rule 22Rule 22 lays down a simple but fundamental principle: all government accounts must be maintained in Indian rupees. This applies to both the Central Governm...Rule 23Rule 23 is one of the most fundamental rules in GAR 1990 — it defines the three-part structure of all government accounts and specifies the detailed divisi...Rule 24Rule 24 describes how the broad parts and sections established in Rule 23 are further sub-divided into Sectors, Sub-sectors, and ultimately Major Heads of ...Rule 25Rule 25 establishes a four-digit coding system for every Major Head of Account in government finances. The first digit of this code immediately tells you w...Rule 26Rule 26 defines the full architecture of how government accounts are organised into layers of headings. The structure has five tiers: at the top is the Maj...Rule 27Rule 27 deals with a constitutionally required distinction in government accounts: the difference between 'Charged' expenditure and 'Voted' expenditure. Ev...Rule 28Rule 28 addresses the constitutional foundation for how government accounts are classified. Under Article 150 of the Constitution, the accounts of the Unio...Rule 29Rule 29 establishes the primary principle for deciding where a transaction should be classified in government accounts. The guiding question is: what is th...Rule 30Rule 30 provides the legal definition of 'capital expenditure' for government accounting purposes and sets out the conditions under which expenditure can b...Rule 31Rule 31 applies specifically to Capital Schemes — large government projects (like a dam, a power plant, or a railway line) for which separate capital and r...Rule 32Rule 32 is a short but specific classification rule that addresses foreign currency transactions. Whenever the Indian Government makes or receives a paymen...Rule 33Rule 33 deals with a practical accounting challenge: sometimes a single payment or receipt legitimately belongs to more than one head of account, but it is...Rule 34Rule 34 provides guidance on how to account for receipts and expenditure in areas that have special constitutional status — specifically, the Fifth Schedul...Rule 35Rule 35 establishes a clear and important principle for handling overpayments that are later recovered. When a government officer or department is paid mor...Rule 36Rule 36 governs how government departments or undertakings that operate on commercial lines maintain their accounts. The key recognition in this rule is th...Rule 37Rule 37 is a brief but important procedural provision addressing what to do when an error in classification is discovered after an entry has already been m...Rule 38Rule 38 establishes a comprehensive framework for writing off balances from Debt, Deposit, Suspense, and Remittance heads — these are the 'balance-carrying...Rule 39Rule 39 is the introductory rule of Chapter 4 of the Government Accounting Rules, which deals with recovery of charges when one government department provi...Rule 40Rule 40 governs inter-governmental transactions — when one Government (Union or State) makes a payment or renders a service to another Government. The fund...Rule 41Rule 41 establishes the principle that the government should not provide free services to entities outside the government — specifically, foreign governmen...Rule 42Rule 42 defines and distinguishes two fundamental types of government departments: Service Departments and Commercial Departments (or Undertakings). This c...Rule 43Rule 43 lays down the default rule for service departments: they should not charge other departments for services or supplies that fall within the class of...Rule 44Rule 44 establishes the mirror-image rule to Rule 43, but for commercial departments: while service departments generally do not charge (Rule 43), commerci...Rule 45Rule 45 deals with a specific inter-departmental situation: when one government department acts as an agent for another department in making a payment or r...Rule 46Rule 46 establishes a special regime for inter-departmental transactions involving the Defence Services. Unlike the general rule for service departments (w...Rule 47Rule 47 governs service departments that have a special branch set up specifically to perform work for which they charge external parties. When a branch of...Rule 48Rule 48 deals with a specific situation: a branch of a department that was set up to serve only that department's own internal needs is nevertheless deploy...Rule 49Rule 49 governs how a regularly organised store branch of a government department should handle supplies made to other departments. The general rule is cle...Rule 50Rule 50 is an overriding provision that gives Government the power to permit inter-departmental adjustment in any specific case where it considers such an ...Rule 51Rule 51 establishes an important principle for how inter-departmental payments should be calculated: the payment must cover not just the direct cost of the...
8 - Important General Orders Governing Classification
Rule 5Rule 5 addresses the classification of Central Government grants and loans in State or Union Territory Government books. When the Central Government releas...Rule 67Rules 66 and 67 deal with the classification of pay and allowances of government servants in accounts. Rule 66 (which begins with the chapter heading) esta...Rule 70Rule 70 establishes the framework for using the 'Suspense Account' head in government accounting. A Suspense Account is used to temporarily hold receipts o...Rule 71Rule 71 is one of the most detailed classification rules in GAR 1990. It provides exhaustive schedules (Schedule I and Schedule II) for classifying the sal...Rule 73Rule 73 addresses a specific but historically important situation: the cost allocation when civilian scientific parties (such as units of the Survey of Ind...Rule 74Rule 74 is the interpretation rule for the Government Accounting Rules, 1990. It establishes a clear mechanism for resolving doubts: whenever any doubt ari...Rule 75Rule 75 is the repeal provision of the Government Accounting Rules, 1990. It states that with the issue of GAR 1990, the provisions of the Accounts Code Vo...
5 - Rules regarding classification of recoveries of Expenditure in Government Accounts
Rule 52Rule 52 opens Chapter 5 of GAR 1990, which deals with how recoveries of expenditure are classified in government accounts. This rule defines what the word ...Rule 53Rule 53 establishes the general rule for how recoveries from non-government parties and other governments are classified in accounts. The rule is straightf...Rule 54Rule 54 governs how recoveries between different departments of the same Government are classified in accounts. The general rule is the opposite of Rule 53...Rule 55Rule 55 establishes a specific classification rule for two categories of recoveries that arise in the context of public works and stores accounting. The fi...Rule 56Rule 56 deals with receipts and recoveries on Capital Accounts — specifically those that represent recoveries of expenditure previously debited to a Capita...
6 - Rules relating to classification of losses in Government Accounts
Rule 57Rules 57 and 58 open Chapter 6, which governs the classification and adjustment of losses in government accounts. Rule 57 is the introductory rule, stating...Rule 59Rule 59 addresses how losses or deficiencies of physical assets — specifically buildings, land, stores, and equipment — are treated in government accounts....Rule 60Rule 60 deals with losses or deficiencies of cash — whether the cash is held in a government treasury or in departmental custody (i.e., with a departmental...Rule 61Rule 61 addresses how irregular or unusual payments should be classified in government accounts. The rule establishes a sensible principle: irregular or un...Rule 62Rule 62 addresses the situation where losses are not aberrations but are instead a predictable and inevitable part of how a particular government departmen...
7 - Miscellaneous Rules
Rule 63Rule 63 deals with how the financial incidence of government servants' pay, leave salaries, pension, and other charges is allocated between different gover...Rule 64Rule 64 governs how treasury accounts are to be kept and the manner in which treasuries submit their accounts returns to the Accounts Offices. It establish...Rule 65Rule 65 is the counterpart of Rule 64, but applies specifically to departmental accounts — the accounts of departments that maintain their own initial and ...