ISLAMABAD: No supplementary grant for any additional unbudgeted spending over the parliamentary approved level shall be considered by the Finance Division, except in cases of severe natural disasters.
The Finance Division on Tuesday notified the strategy for re-appropriation and additional allocation of funds during financial year, which noted that no supplementary grant for any additional unbudgeted spending over the parliamentary approved level shall be considered by Finance Division, except in cases of severe natural disasters.
However, where no funds can be made available through re-appropriation and TSG, the following shall be required;
(a) PAO certifies that all avenues have been exhausted, which is to be verified by the relevant Accounting Organisation/ Office;
(b) PAO provides valid justification and cogent reasons for demanding,
(c) Recommendation of Expenditure Wing or concerned wing of the Finance Division.
Ministry against allocating funds to PSDP?
The procedure reflected in para 4 relating to Technical Supplementary Grant at sub-paras (i)-(vii) shall also be followed for supplementary grant.
The notification further stated that in pursuance of the Article 84 of the Constitution and Section 10 of PFM Act 2019, if the amount authorised to be expended for a particular service for a financial year is found insufficient, or that a need has arisen for expenditure upon some new service not included in “Annual Budget Statement (ABS), Schedule of Authorized Expenditure and Details of Demands for Grants and Appropriation (Budget Books)” the following steps shall be taken by the principal accounting officers (PAOs) or heads of the departments/ organisations/sub-ordinate offices.
Re-appropriation of Funds;
(i) PAOs/ HoDs/ HoSOs have been delegated financial powers by Finance Division for re-appropriation of funds under S#5 of schedule of “Financial Management and Powers of PAOs Regulations, 2021”. Authorised officer may re-appropriate funds accordingly, in line with regulations ibid as amended by Finance Division from time to time.
However, no re-appropriation shall be made from unreleased budget;
(ii) PAOs have been provided additional funds to meet funding requirements of Ad-hoc Relief Allowance 2024 announced in the budget for CFY under a separate cost centre in each Demand for Grants and Appropriations.
PAOs are, hereby, advised to re-appropriate these funds, in consultation with Expenditure Wing, Finance Division, only for the purpose of Ad-hoc Relief Allowance 2024 in quarter 3 of CFY;
(iii) In case of shortfall in ERE allocation during the FY, re-appropriation of funds from Non-ERE “Heads of Accounts” may be made on priority basis; (iv) Re-appropriation orders duly approved by the competent authority shall be provided to the Accounting Organizations/Offices for entry into SAP system.
However, released funds shall remain within the prescribed quarterly limits given by the Finance Division in the Strategy for Release of Funds of current fiscal year;
(v) It has been observed that a large number of cases for relaxation of cut-off date for re-appropriation of funds i.e. 31st May, under Section 11 of PFM Act 2019, are received in Finance Division during June every year.
It is hereby advised that all such cases with prior approval of PAO shall only be considered by Finance Division in case of the following:
(a) For adjustment of excess expenditure booked in accounts offices;
(b) To meet shortfall under ERE heads of accounts;
(c) Unavoidable payments which mature in June;
(d) Copies of the approved Re-appropriation Order shall be provided to the Expenditure Wing and Budget Wing (Budget Computerization Section) Finance Division for record and monitoring purposes.
It stated that
(i) any request for provision of funds through TSG shall only be submitted by PAOs, with identification of resources under other demand(s) and certificate regarding equivalent surrender from the concerned PAO.
(ii) Expenditure Wing shall examine the TSG cases in detail and submit recommendation for consideration by the Budget Wing, Finance Division.
(iii) Budget Wing, Finance Division shall process the cases in the light of SAP system report, recommendation of Expenditure Wing and available fiscal space before submission to Finance Secretary for consideration and approval.
(iv) TSG cases relating to PSDP, after meeting the requirements mentioned above, shall be processed through the Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Division.
(v) On approval of funds through TSG by the Federal Cabinet, the PAO shall submit the schedule of TSG, duly endorsed by the Expenditure Wing, Finance Division, along with copies of the approved summary and decision of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, ratification of the Cabinet and surrender order to Director (Budget Computerization), Budget Wing, Finance Division for entry in SAP system.
(vi) Funds, approved through TSG, shall be released by the Finance Division, keeping in view the funds availability and in line with Release Strategy, and
(vii) Fulfilment of provisions of the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act, 2019 and Financial Management and Powers of Principal Accounting Officers Regulations, 2021.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024