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| No qualified, trained Accounts Officer appointed by Finance Deptt | | LA Secretariat's dubious distinction on one more front | | Financial matters looked after by
'ineligible' official from own staff
Early Times Report
Jammu, June 18: J&K Legislative Assembly Secretariat which has been in controversies for some personnel related matters has one more dubious distinction on its functional aspect- Finance Department has not appointed any Accountant in this vital institution nor have the authorities at the helm requisitioned one for years now. Substantial accounts related works and massive financial matters are being looked after by the officials within the Assembly Secretariat who are far less qualified to deal with such works nor have they acquired any training which is mandatory as per the norms.
Sources said for over four years there is no Accounts officer who comes as a normal practice for all government departments from the Finance Department, essentially appointed by Director General Finance or Treasuries. The officer so appointed must possess eligibility with respect to specific accounts related qualification and besides that some basic accountancy training is provided to them so that they can run accounts related matters smoothly whichever department they are appointed. However, in case of state's Legislative Assembly, none of the criteria has been followed and authorities have chosen to give this task to ineligible persons, sources said adding that the last Account properly appointed and sent by the Finance Department was Mohammad Ramzan Sheikh. After his retirement none was appointed nor did the Assembly ever ask for the need to have the qualified and trained officer.
Sources further said that the accounts related works in the Legislative Assembly Secretariat are massive which range from huge financial transactions to purchases, from bills to salaries besides heavy amount of expenditure every year on both the Secretariat as well as MLAs Hostel. Pertinently, the Accounts officer appointed not only takes care of financial matters but more importantly keeps a check on all these sensitive matters so that the records are kept transparent and clean for audit/ inspections as well. In other words, sources explained the Accounts officer from outside the department generally allows little or no space for irregularities or bungling of funds earmarked for various purposes.
Sources said absence of a proper Accounts officer for years in the LA Secretariat has allowed financial matters to become somewhat ambiguous so much so that question marks were raised by the previous Speaker Mubarak Gul on many things. He had even put a stop on certain uncalled for expenditures and asked for details into heavy expenditures, sources further said adding that the incumbent Speaker Kavinder Gupta is yet a novice to understand intricacies of accounts related matters nor is being given to understand by those at the helm. Sources said since all the transactions and drawing disbursal powers wrest with the authorities at the helm, there is no one from outside to raise objections or put question marks on irregularities in financial matters which, no matter on small scale , are taking place in one or the other way. Pertinent to mention is that during the national level POs conference organised at Srinagar few years back by the Legislative Assembly, some irregularities were pointed out in huge expenditure on boarding/lodging of guests from outside the state. An enquiry was later ordered to be conducted by the Law department. As for the present system and functioning, is the Finance Minister Hasseb Drabu aware of the fact that one of the most important institutions in the government Legislative Assembly doesn't have an Accounts Officer Appointed by his ministry so far…? |
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