74. (a)-(I) No claims against Government other than those by one department against another or by the Government of India/other Administrations in·India/another State Government, not preferred within one year of their becoming due, can be paid without an authority from the Accountant General irrespective of whether they are payable in cash or by book adjustment i.e. even when the net claim is for nil amount.

Exception—This rule shall not apply to the following category of claims which may be paid without preaudit by the Accountant General:

(i) Claims on account of pensions, the payment of which is regulated by special rules;

(ii) Claims (including personal claims of Government servants) not exceeding Rs. 1,000 presented within three years of their becoming due;

(iii) Claims on account of pay and allowances of such non-gazetted Government servants whose names are not required to be shown in the pay bills in accordance with rules or orders of Government;

(iv) Claims on account of interest on Government Securities;

(v) Any other class of payments which are governed by special rules of orders of Government.

Explanation—(1) For the purpose of this rule the date on which the claim is presented at the Treasury or any other office of disbursement should be considered to be the date on which it is preferred.

Explanation—(2) The dates on which the various claims become due for payment are explained below :—

(i) T. A. Claim—A claim for travelling allowance should be considered as falling due for payment on the date succeeding the date of completion of the journey in respect of which travelling allowance claim is made and not from the date of counter-signature of the travelling allowance bill.

[But see also Explanation 2 (viii) below]

(ii) Transfer T. A. Claims—The claims in respect of transfer travelling allowance where the officer and/or his family undertakes journey on different dates, should be considred as falling due for payment on the date succeeding the date of completion of each individual journey. Similarly, the travelling allowance claims in respect of the transportation of personal effects should be considered as falling due on the date succeeding the date on which the personal effects are actually delivered to him.

(iii) Increment—The period of one year should be counted from the date on which the increment falls due for payment in the case of an ordinary increment and not with reference to the date on which the increment certificate is signed by the competent authority. Where an increment is withheld the period of one year should be counted from the date on which the increment falls due after taking into account the period for which it is withheld. In a case in which increment next above the efficiency bar is to be allowed or in which a premature increment is to be granted, the claim for increment is to be supported by the sanction of the competent authority and the time-limit should be reckoned from the date of sanction of the increment or the date of accrual of the increment whichever is later.

(iv) Grant-in-aid—Claims on account of grant-in-aid and scholarships become due as soon as they are sanctioned, subject to the fulfilment of other conditions or periodicity, if any, attached thereto. The time-limit for purposes of preaudit is to be reckoned from the date of their becoming so due.

(v) House allowance—A claim for house allowance may be considered to have fallen due for payment on the first day of the month following the month to which the house allowance relates.

(vi) Claims arising on re-instatement—The due date of claims of officials who are suspended and then reinstated will be taken the date of order of the reinstating authority.

(vii) Leave salary—The period of one year for the arrears of claims of leave salary should be reckoned from the date of sanction to leave or the first of the following month to which the leavesalary claim relates, whichever is later.

(viii) Claims arising due to retrospective orders—In the case of sanction accorded with retrospective effect the charge does not become due before it is sanctioned. The time-limit specified in this rule should be reckoned from the date of sanction and not from the date on the sanction takes effect.

(ix) Non-periodical contingent expenditure—A claim for non-periodical contingent expenditure be considered as becoming due for payment for the purposes of this para as soon as the supply or service for which the payment is made is completed or rendered. Where, however, the expenditure requires the sanction of a superior authority the charge becomes due only on the date such sanction in accorded. Therefore, in such cases the limit of one year should be recokned from the date of the sanction and not from when the supply or service was rendered.

74. (a)-(2) Claims of Government against Railways for overcharges and claims of Railways against Government departments for undercharges will be recognised and admitted if the claims are preferred within six months :

(a) In the case of cash payments—from the date of payment.

(b) In the case of warrants or credit notes—from the date of presentation of bill by the Railway administration.

Explanation—The terms ‘overcharges’ and ‘undercharges’ used above mean overcharges and undercharges of railway freight and fares only. They refer to shortages and excesses in the items included in a bill which has already been rendered. The omission of an item in a bill is not an ‘undercharge’ nor is the erroneous inclusion of an item as ‘overcharge.’

74. (a)-(3) All arrear claims arising out of single event or order should be treated as one and included in a separate bill, and no arrear claims arising out of other events should be included in it.

74. (a)-(4) The following instructions should be carefully observed with regard to the treatment of time-barred claims against the Government other than those for pay, allowances or increments :

(i) A claim against the Government which is barred by time under any provisions of law relating to limitation is ordinarily to be refused and no claim on account of such a time barred item is to be paid without sanction of Government in the Administrative Department. The onus is upon the claiming authority to establish a claim to special treatment for a time-barred item and it is the duty of the authority against whom such a claim is made to refuse the claim until a case for other treatment is made out. All petty time-barred claims are to be rejected forthwith and only important claims of this nature considered.

(ii) It is the duty of the executive authority in the first instance to consider the question of time-bar before submitting a claim to the Accountant General for sanction under this paragraph, and audit will refuse payment of all claims found to be time-barred until sanction of Government in the administrative department has been obtained.

74. (b)-(1) Claims of Government servants, whether gazetted or non-gazetted to arrears of pay and allowances, or to increments which have been allowed to remain in abeyance for a period exceeding one year, but not exceeding three years, other than those referred to in Exception (ii) below paragraph 74 (a) (i), may be sent to the Accountant General for pre-audit by the head of office without any higher sanction for investigation of the claim.

74. (b)-(2) The head of office may sanction investigation of such claims of non-gazetted Government servants which do not exceed Rs. 1,000 and have remained in abeyance for a period exceeding three years but not exceeding six years.

74. (b)-(3) In all other cases claims of a Government servant on account of arrears of pay, allowances or increment over three years old will require sanction of the Head of the Department for its investigation by the Accountant General.

74. (b)-(4) Where the investigation of a claim is rendered impossible owing to the destruction of records in the Audit Office [vide Note 2 to sub-para (vi) below] the claim will not be admitted unless the Head of Department specifically authorizes the Accountant General to admit it. The Head of Department should see that on such arrear bills a certificate to the effect that the claim is genuine, in order, admissible and has not been paid before has been furnished by the head of office concerned.

74. (b)-(5) The claims mentioned below should not be entertained by the head of office/Head of Department :—

(a) Claims of Government servants for travelling allowance preferred by the claimants after one year of the date of their becoming due irrespective of the amount involved and the class of the employee.

NOTES—(1) The right of a Government servant to travelling allowance including daily allowance is forfeited or deemed to have been relinquished if the claim for it is not preferred to the head of office or the controlling officer within one year from the date on which it becomes due.

(2) If the travelling allowance claim is not preferred by the administrative authority concerned for payment within one year from the date of its becoming due, it shall not be paid unless the reasons for delay are investigated in detail and a specific sanction issued by Finance Department. If the investigation shows that the claim could not be preferred in time due to administrative delay without adequate and cogent reasons, suitable action may be taken against the officer(s) concerned so that such delay do not recur in future.

(b) Personal claims of Government servants of amount not exceeding Rs. 50 each requiring sanction for investigation or admittance in accordance with the preceding sub-paragraph in cases in which the responsibility for the drawal of the amounts is of the Government servant himself, except such claims as effect pension.

(6) Authorities before issuing orders for investigation should bear in mind that the investigation of arreras often involves a large amount of labour in the Audit Office, out of all proportion to the amount or importance of the claims preferred. They, should, therefore, exercise their power with caution, rejecting petty claims unless they effect a man’s pension.

NOTES—(1) Where Heads of Departments are themselves the claimants of arrears of their dues, a reference should be made to Government in the Administrative Department.

(2) Travelling allowance bills are retained in the Audit Office for three years, salary bills for six years and audit registers of establishment for eight years and of gazetted officers for twelve years.

(3) Delays in payments are opposed to all rules and budgetary principles and are highly inconvenient and objectionable, and when not satisfactorily explained will be brought to the notice of the Head of Department concerned by the Accountant General.

(4) When submitting supplementary bills for pre-audit the following particulars must be entered therein, in the absence of which the bills will not be pre-audited for payment :—

(i) The reasons why the amount claimed in the bill was not drawn before.

(ii) The source from which the amount is to be met should be correctly stated, such amounts cannot be met from "State savings" or "Budget grants."

(iii) Any other information which will facilitate audit and prevent unnecessary delay.

(5) Bills pre-audited and passed for payment by the Accountant General may be cashed at the treasury up to the limit of six months from the order of payment, a fresh order being required thereafter.

74. (c) No payments may be made on account of increase to pay until the additional expenditure thereby caused has been provided for in the budget estimates and duly sanctioned.

NOTE—Periodical increments of pay are provided for in the budget estimates and are not increase to pay within the meaning of this clause.

74. (d) The provisions of this paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis to arrear claims preferred against Government by persons not in Government service.