Para 5.11 — MSO

5.11 In cases where Certificate of payments are received in lieu of lost vouchers, they should be checked in detail in the same way as original vouchers. Scrutiny of the certificates of payment in the Office of the Accountant General (A&E) will not wait for audit thereof by Accountant General (Audit). They should be examined judiciously to see that there were no unusual circumstances or malafides attached to the non-production of the original vouchers and then they should be submitted to the Branch Officer if the amount of such certificate does not exceed Rs. 10,000 or to the Group Officer, if it exceeds Rs. 10,000. Cases of loss of vouchers under unusual or peculiar circumstances should be brought to the notice of the Accountant General for information, if found necessary. Accountant General's enquiry in such cases will be directed to find out inter alia, whether there has been repeated or large number of cases of lost vouchers in respect of any particular Drawing and Disbursing Officer/treasury and whether there has been any suspected connivance or collusion of the departmental staff in non-production of original vouchers. For this purpose the Accountant General (A&E) may seek the help of Field audit parties of Accountant General (Audit).

The particulars of Certificates of Payment so accepted should be recorded in a register maintained in Form 2 and the Control Section should review the register half yearly (20th June and September) with a view to finding out whether there were any cases of loss of original vouchers under unusual circumstances or any malafides attached to the non-production of the original vouchers.

The result of the review should be submitted to the Accountant General on the 30th June and 31st December respectively.