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Patna, (Bihar Times): The Nitish Kumar government of Bihar has received flak from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
Reports said that the issue pertains to the state government’s decision to take back payslip issuing work of Group-A gazetted officers from AG Bihar and give the same to the entitlement cell of the finance department. A notification to this effect was issued on December 22 last year, just two days after the promotion of six IAS officers to the apex scale in addition to the existing five. The Centre has already refused to allow promotion of additional IAS officers to the apex scale exceeding the sanctioned strength.
Deputy CAG A N Chatterji, in his letter dated February 13, 2009 to the Bihar chief secretary, said: “It is disturbing to note that a process of consultation with CAG was not deemed necessary by the state government before the orders were issued.”
His letter was a reply to the state government’s letter, dated January 28, 2009, in which it was said that the AG (A&E), Bihar, has failed to ensure the transfer of necessary records to the finance department.
Chatterji does not agree with the point raised in the government's
letter that its December 22 order was in continuance of the decision taken by the Bihar government in 1985 for taking over the Gazette Entitlement (GE) functions in respect of payscale with an upper limit of Rs 1,820.
“In 1987, the AG specifically asked the state government to intimate whether any final decision had been taken in this regard... There was neither any response nor any formal proposal received from the government. Meanwhile, in 1992 the state government reversed the process of taking over GE functions and transferred additional work... and in 2002, the then state government requested the AG (A&E) to take over the function in respect of officers drawing less than the basic grade, which was then with the state government,” the Times of India quoted the letter.
The letter says in such changed circumstances and due to the lapse of more then 20 years, the process of consultation held in 1985 has lost relevance and fresh consultations should have been initiated.
“The sudden issue of the notification and the urgency of its implementation, as envisaged in the order, it appears was to preempt any objections regarding issue of payslips to the officers who had just a day before the date of issue of the notification been promoted to the apex scale of IAS in violation of the Government of India orders,” it further reads.
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