Advances to Contractors and Disbursers

312. Advances to contractors or disbursers are as a rule prohibited and every endeavour should be made to maintain a system under which no payments are made except for works actually done. Exceptions are, however, permitted in the following cases :

(a) In the case of payments made to contractors under rule (2), paragraph 311.

(b) When a contractor is not employed and payments have to be made to labourers direct or purchase of materials cannot be made without prepayment the local officer may draw an advance to the extent of actual requirements but not exceeding Rs. 2,000 at a time for a single work subject to the condition that another advance should not be drawn unless the first has been adjusted. This limit may be increased to Rs. 5,000 with the prior sanction of the Head of the Department for any particulars work or any particular officer where circumstances justify such an increase. Such advances should be entrusted to responsible Government servants of rank not lower than that of a Naib Tahsildar. Such advances should be adjusted and detailed bills submitted within a period not exceeding two months from the date of drawal.

NOTES—(1) Advances under clause (a) of this paragraph should be adjusted without unnecessary delay. Ordinarily such advances should be adjusted within a period of two months from the date of drawal. If for any reasons this is not possible, a report should be sent to the Accountant General through the Head of the Department explaining the cause of delay in adjustment and stating approximately the day by which the advance is expected to be adjusted.

(2) The Inspector General of Police is authorised to draw advances of a sum not exceeding Rs. 1,000 at a time, for the execution of petty works and special repairs carried out through the Social Service Squads on self-help basis. The number of such advances should not, however, exceed five in respect of a particular work. Each such advance must be adjusted and detailed bills submitted within a period not exceeding two months from the date of drawal.

313. The advances referred to in paragraph 312 may be drawn by the local officer from the Treasury on his own authority and will be charged to the service head of account subject to final adjustments on the submission of detailed bills.

313-A. Local officers shall not make advance payments to contractors on the security of materials brought to site of work nor shall they purchase material for a work which is being executed by contract. The contractor will make his own arrangements for materials as the store purchase rules do not apply to works executed by local officers.

Local officers shall auction as soon as practicable all materials obtained from dismantled buildings or surplus on works carried out by departmental agency. The sale-proceeds of materials obtained from dismantled works which have simply been abandoned and not replaced, will be credited to revenue (i.e. to the revenues of the State as a receipt). The sale-proceeds in other cases, will be credited to the work concerned.

314. (Deleted).

315. When petty or minor works are carried out by the Public Works Department, they will be accounted for under the rules applicable to works under their control.

316-317. (Deleted).