Ranchi: The Finance Department has issued strict orders after the illegal withdrawal in the Swarn Rekha Project Division of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department in Ranchi. On April 30, the Finance Department (Treasury and Institutional Finance) sent a letter to treasuries and sub-treasuries, instructing them to return all personnel who were on deputation to their original offices or departments.
The Finance Department’s letter instructed that this action should be completed within two days and the department should be informed accordingly. Additionally, it ordered that a complete list of deputed personnel in the treasuries and sub-treasuries be submitted to the Finance Department by May 9.
The letter mentioned that in case additional personnel are required, accounting assistants from the district pension and accounts office may be deployed in the treasuries with the permission of the Finance Department.
It is noteworthy that the number of personnel in the state’s treasuries is minimal. To compensate for this, employees from other district-level offices have been frequently deputed to the treasuries. This practice has been cited as a major cause of the approximately ₹23 crore illegal withdrawal that occurred in the Swarn Rekha Project Division, leading to the Finance Department’s current action to post original treasury cadre employees. While similar orders have been issued in the past, no significant results have been seen, and the deputation of employees from other offices has continued.
The Finance Department has also instructed the treasury and sub-treasury officials to create user IDs for only regular employees with the approval of the Director of Treasuries. Moreover, the user IDs of deputed employees from other departments or offices should be deactivated immediately.
In another letter, the Finance Department has directed treasury and sub-treasury officials to implement the recommendations of the investigation committee regarding the illegal withdrawal in the Swarn Rekha Project Division. The letter specifies that the committee has recommended that physical records in each treasury be kept in a record room under the supervision of a responsible officer. The Finance Department has instructed that this recommendation be followed and the record room be placed under the charge of a responsible officer.