Jammu: Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary), Finance department Atal Dulloo on Thursday asked all the administrative departments to follow General Financial Rules (GFR)-2017 for “declaring the goods surplus or obsolete or unserviceable and their subsequent disposal by the tenders or public auction.”
Reiterating the provisions of Rule 218 of GFR-2017, Dulloo stated surplus or obsolete or unserviceable goods of assessed residual value above Rs two lakh should be disposed of by obtaining bids through advertised tender or public auction.
Official sources said that the directions were issued as the majority of the government departments had been violating the laid down guidelines.
“In the past several incidents came to the fore where the departments had tweaked the guidelines as per their convenience and this resulted in misappropriation of funds,” they added.
Quoting Rule 217 of General Financial Rule (GFR)-2017, Dulloo, in a circular, stated that an “item may be declared surplus or obsolete or unserviceable if the same is of no use to the ministry or department.” The reasons for declaring the item surplus or obsolete or unserviceable should be recorded by the authority competent to purchase the item.
As per the rules, the competent authority “may, at its discretion, constitute a committee at appropriate level to declare items as surplus or obsolete or unserviceable. The book value, guiding price and reserved price, which will be required while disposing of the surplus goods, should also be worked out.
The rules provide that in the case where it is not possible to work out the book value, the original purchase price of the goods in question may be utilised. A report of stores for disposal should be prepared. “If an item becomes unserviceable due to negligence, fraud or mischief on the part of a government servant, responsibility for the same should be fixed,” he directed.
Under the provisions of Rule 218 of GFR-2017, for surplus or obsolete or unserviceable goods with residual value less than Rs 2 lakh, the mode of disposal will be determined by the competent authority. Further, certain surplus or obsolete or unserviceable goods such as expired medicines, food grain, ammunition etc., which are hazardous or unfit for human consumption, should be disposed of or destroyed immediately and those equipment and documents, which involve security concern e.g., currency, negotiable instruments, receipt books, stamps, security press etc. should be disposed of or destroyed in an appropriate manner to ensure compliance with rules
Referring to Rule 219 of GFR-2017, Dulloo stated that broad steps for the disposal of surplus or obsolete or unserviceable goods through the advertised tender and important aspects should be followed while disposing of the goods through advertised tender to ensure transparency, competition, fairness and elimination of discretion.