Para 7.1.17 — MSO (Audit)

7.1.17 The following guidelines should be kept in view in dealing with recoveries relating to personal claims of government servants:

(i) Before insisting on the recovery of irregular or excessive payments of personal claims placed under objection after the lapse of more than a year after their actual disbursement, the Accountant General should, subject to the provisions of sub-paragraph

(ii) below, refer the matter for the orders of the Government concerned. If Government decides to waive the recovery and the Accountant General is satisfied with the decision, he will withdraw the objection. Otherwise, the circumstances of the case may be reported to the Legislature through the Audit Report. Notes: (1) The power to accept the orders of Government in such cases is vested personally in the Accountant General except in cases where the amount involved is Rs 1,000 or less. In such cases, the Senior Deputy Accountant General/Deputy Accountant General may accept the waiver orders up to the limit of Rs 1000/500 in each case. These powers should not, however, be delegated to subordinate officers. (2) All orders of Government waiving recoveries due without further action that have been accepted by Audit should be recorded in a register. The Accountant General should review the register at such intervals as may be considered appropriate by him; this should, however, be done at least annually. Relevant entries in the register should invariably indicate, inter alia,

(i) how the overpayments occurred in each case;

(ii) the rules that were contravened;

(iii) the extent of responsibility of the drawing and disbursing officers on the one hand and of the Audit Office on the other;

(iv) the reasons advanced by Government for waiving the recovery;

(v) the grounds on which the Accountant General or his Group Officers accepted the Government orders; and

(vi) the remedial measures, if any, taken to prevent the recurrence of similar cases.

(ii) The Union and the State Governments have, however, agreed that the Accountant General and other Audit Officers may forgo, on their behalf, recoveries in cases of the type referred to at

(i) above if the amount involved does not exceed the limits indicated below and if they are satisfied that the amount held under objection was drawn by the government servant concerned in the reasonable belief that he was entitled to it:

What This Means

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.

Key Points

• 1Overpayments on personal claims older than one year require Government orders before insisting on recovery
• 2The Accountant General personally holds the power to accept Government waiver orders (delegated up to Rs 1,000/500 to deputies)
• 3A register of all waived recoveries must be maintained and reviewed at least annually
• 4For amounts up to Rs 800 (AG) / Rs 500-300 (deputies) / Rs 50 (other officers), Audit Officers can directly forgo recovery if the employee drew the amount in good faith
• 5If Government refuses to act, the matter may be escalated to the Legislature via the Audit Report

Practical Example

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.

Frequently Asked Questions

This explanation was generated with AI assistance for educational purposes. Always refer to the official gazette notification for authoritative text.