SECTION XIII—AUDIT OBJECTIONS

79. Every Government servant, entrusted with the duty of making payments on behalf of Government, should attend promptly to all objections and orders communicated to him by the Accountant General, either direct, or through the Treasury Officer, by letters, audit memoranda, etc. and return the audit memoranda or reply to objections within a fortnight or send letters explaining the cause of delay.

NOTE—The fact that some of the objections are still under reference is no reason for keeping back the statement. Such cases can be extracted for subsequent explanation.

80. Under Treasury Rule 31 if a Treasury Officer receives intimation from the Accountant General that moneys have been incorrectly withdrawn and that a certain sum should be recovered from a drawing officer, he shall effect the recovery without delay and without regard to any correspondence undertaken or contemplated with reference to the retrenchment order; and the drawing officer shall without delay repay the sum, in such manner as the Accountant General may direct.

81. When the Accountant General disallows a payment as unauthorized, the Treasury Officer must not only recover the amounts disallowed without listening to any objection or protest, but also refuse to make further payments in future till the Accountant General authorizes the payment to be resumed. That no warning slip has been received by the Government servant affected, or that, being received, it has been answered, are facts with which the Treasury Officer has no concern.

NOTES—(1) If a Government servant, from whom a recovery is ordered has in the meantime been transferred to another district, the Treasury Officer should without delay pass on the order of recovery to the other Treasury.

(2) Representation and protests against retrenchments ordered by the Accountant General will not ordinarily be considered by the administrative authorities if submitted later than three months from after the date of receipt of the intimation by the aggrieved Government servant. An administrative authority competent to waive recovery may communicate any representation or protest so received to the Accountant General who may at his discretion postpone recovery pending a decision on the protest. This provision does not remove from the Treasury Officer the duty of enforcing immediately recovery of a retrenchment order under note (5) below.

(3) Recoveries may not ordinarily be made at a rate exceeding one-third of pay unless the Government servant affected has (a) in receiving or drawing the excess, acted contrary to orders or without due justification or (b) taken an advance for a specific purpose, not utilised it for the purpose for which the advance was sanctioned within the prescribed period and failed to refund the outstanding amount within the stipulated date.

(4) All retrenchments ordered by the Accountant General should be noted in the register prescribed in paragraph 429 against the name of the officer concerned. The register contains columns specifying the nature and amount of over payment and the method by which the overpayment has been adjusted. The entries relating to retrenchments should be inspected by the Treasury Officer in the last week of the month to see that all recoveries are being made properly.

(5) A Treasury Officer must not when a retrenchment is ordered enter into any correspondence with either the Accountant General or the Government servant affected by the retrenchment ; it is his duty simply and promptly to carry out the orders he has received and to leave to the person aggrieved to refer the case to Government through the proper channel.

(6) If considered desirable, the recovery of a sum retrenched from a pay bill need only be made from the next pay bill, and of a sum retrenched from a travelling allowance bill from the next payment of travelling allowances, but retrenchments of travelling allowances must be recovered in cash or from pay bills when the Government servant concerned does not within a month present a travelling allowance claim from which they can be recovered.

(7) (a) In order to avoid unnecessary expenditure of time and labour on cases of a simple and unimportant character, the Government have authorised the Accountant General and certain other officers of his office to forego recovery of petty items of expenditure held under objection.

(b) Subject to the prescribed limits and conditions, recovery of overpayments discovered during local audits and of Government dues in cases where it is the duty of the Audit to watch recovery, may also be waived by Audit Officers authorised for the purpose.

81-A. Recoveries of overpayments made to a Government servant who has proceeded on leave out of India are, as a rule, not enforced until he returns to duty in India. If in any case however it is considered necessary to ask the High Commissioner for India to make such recoveries the Accountant General should forward the necessary documents in duplicate to the Government for orders.

81-B. Ordinarily all personal claims are audited finally by the Accountant General within one year from the date of payment. In cases, however, where payments on account of personal claims are placed under objection more than a year after the date on which they are disbursed, the Accountant General is required to obtain the orders of the Government before demanding recovery of the amount under objection. But if the amount involved does not exceed the prescribed limits and if the Audit Officer authorised for the purpose is satisfied that it was drawn by the Government servant under reasonable belief that he was entitled to it he may waive the recovery of the amount.

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