DIVSIONS INCURRING EXPENDITURE ON NATIONAL HIGHWAYS

Chapter - I

1.1 The Directorate General ( Roads ) under the Ministry of Shipping & Transport , is responsible for the construction and upkeep of National Highways in the country. The construction and upkeep works are, however, got executed through the Public Works Divisions of the State Government concerned on an agency basis under the provisions of Article 258 of the constitution. The State Public Works Divisions incur expenditure from the State balances and render monthly compiled accounts to the Accountant General of the State concerned. The Accountant General , after consolidation of the expenditure and receipts in his circle of account under the Head of Accounts "858 – Suspense Accounts – PAO Suspense – Items adjustable by PAO ( NH ) " raises debit ( net ) against the Controller of Accounts, Ministry of Shipping & Transport.

1.2 The classified abstract of Receipts and Expenditure on National Highways submitted by the Accountant General to the Controller of Accounts, Shipping & Transport would contain only the expenditure finally adjustable under the Major Heads –337 and 537 – Roads and Bridges and Misc. Receipts of National Highways under the Major Head ‘137’. Accordingly, the Internal Check of divisional accounts would generally be confined to the following items only : -

1. Detailed check of the selected works.
2. Detailed check of selected monthly accounts of State Divisions accounts of the month
3. The Misc. receipts of National Highways
4. Check of the Contractor’s payments
5. Check against propriety of contracts awarded by the superior officers and any agreements entered into by them and other connected records to see how far utmost economy has been observed in incurring expenditure from public funds.
6. Land Award Statements.
7. Detailed check of transactions for which vouchers etc. are retained in the divisional offices.
8. Detailed check of the register of special tools and plant.

A cycle register for drawal of programme for Internal Test Check would be maintained in the form ( Annexure –I ) to this Chapter by each Pay & Accounts Officer (NH ) in respect of Divisions situated in the states to which the expenditure is reimbursed by him.

1.3 The Internal Check Party would consist of one Accounts Officer, one Junior Accounts Officer and two Sr./Jr. Accountants, the composition of the party may be increased or decreased, as may be considered necessary by the Dy. Controller of Accounts ( NH )

1.4 The distribution of duties between the Accounts Officer, Junior Accounts Officer and Accountants would be broadly governed by the duty list given in Annexure –II. This however, does not preclude the scrutiny of other records of the Divisions and is not meant to be an exhaustive one. All the registers and other records so far as they relate to the expenditure incurred on National Highways may also be scrutinized upto the extent prescribed.

1.5 Each Pay & Accounts Officer ( NH ) including the Headquarters of the Internal Check Organisation, at Delhi shall draw up Inspection programme in such a way that each Division incurring expenditure on National Highways is test checked at least once in a period of two years ; the duration/period of test check may be fixed or varied by the Dy. Controller of Accounts depending upon the annual expenditure incurred by each Division.

1.6 An intimation of Internal Test Check should be sent to the Divisions concerned at least 10 days in advance. The selection of the months of accounts to be subjected to detailed check and the works selected for this purpose should not, however, be disclosed in advance to the Divisions. The Internal Check Parties should collect all necessary records from the Pay & Accounts Office ( NH ) concerned which may be required by it at the site.

1.7 The selection of month of accounts to be test-checked in detail and the works to be examined in detail shall be made by the Pay & Accounts Officer concerned. For this purpose, the Internal Check Wing may maintain & suitable register for watching the selection of monthly accounts and of works for detailed test-check.

1.8 At the time of Internal Check, the Party should also verify compliance of the earlier Inspection Reports. The points still remaining unsettled should be incorporated in the fresh Test-Check Reports.

1.9 The Pay & Accounts Office ( NH ) concerned may supply a memorandum of special points noticed during post-check of accounts/records received from the Divisions through the Accountants General. These special points should also be looked into by the Internal Check Party at the time of local test-check.

1.10 The broad outlines on the basis of which the Internal Test Check should be conducted are given in Chapter-II. Instructions regarding work analysis of selected works and test-check of selected months account are separately contained in Chapters III and IV.

1.11 Apart from the checks prescribed as above to ensure correctness of the settlement accounts received from the Accountants General, it is an essential function of the Internal Check Party to bring to light cases involving improper expenditure or waste of public money, even though the expenditure reimbursed to the State Governments through the monthly accounts is found to be regular. Cases where the physical progress is materially disproportionate to the expenditure incurred would need to be looked into in detail in this context. It is of equal importance to see that the broad principles of orthodox finance are borne in mind by the sanctioning authorities. The object of this check is to ensure high standard of public financial morality, of sound financial administration and devotion to the financial interests of the Govt. Any instance of objections of propriety nature coming to the notice of the Internal Check Party at the time of check of contracts/awards and execution of works should therefore be discussed with the Divisional Officers concerned. The points still remaining unsettled even after such a discussion should be reported to the Dy. Controller of Accounts with full details in a demi-official letter who if satisfied about its validity, etc. will bring the same to the notice of the Financial Advisor, Ministry of Shipping & Transport. The intention behind this procedure is to see that the Government of India take up such cases at sufficiently high level with the State Governments concerned so that appropriate remedial action is taken promptly and repetition avoided.

1.12 Each regional Internal Check Officer, Pay & Accounts Officer ( NH ) shall send a monthly report of the number of units to be inspected during the financial year, number of units actually inspected, number of inspection reports due and issued during the month and number of paras outstanding in various inspection reports to the Dy. Controller of Accounts ( NH ). These reports will be scrutinized carefully at Headquarters to see that the inspection reports are issued without any delay and that they are pursued vigorously.

1.13 The Dy. Controller of Accounts shall also submit an annual review giving the main findings / results of the internal check conducted of the expenditure incurred on the National Highways to the Financial Advisor/ Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport so that an overall view of the matter is taken and appropriate measures taken to make the Internal check more effective and meaningful besides improving conditions of initial accounts records maintained in the divisional officers.