Ranchi: The Finance Department of Jharkhand has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to streamline the payment process for security deposits and time extension amounts. This directive has been sent to all Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, and Departmental Secretaries across the state. The department noted that it has been receiving reports about difficulties in processing such payments, and certain related concerns have also emerged during proceedings in the Jharkhand High Court.
To address this, the Finance Department has introduced two separate guidelines. One SOP applies to payments and refunds from the year 2017 onwards, while an interim SOP has been issued for handling cases pertaining to periods prior to 2017. The newly issued SOP outlines that all such payments will be processed through the WAMIS system and the DDO-level Bill Management System, using an HR Reference Number for authentication. The relevant records will also be matched with the Treasury System using Treasury Voucher Numbers and Dates to ensure accuracy.
As part of the process, the billing in-charge will generate the bill using the HR Reference Number within WAMIS. Following this, the bill for the contractor will be prepared and forwarded to the treasury by the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO). Only after verification and approval through the system can the bill be finalized using the designated TDO Control Number. In cases involving refunds, the treasury application will require mandatory verification of the security deposit and time extension fund before processing.