Treasury Rules dated 08.06.2026

Part Five: Procedures for Withdrawing Money from Government Accounts

The fundamental requirement for withdrawing funds from a government account is the formal presentation of a bill. All Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) must prepare these bills to make claims on the treasury. While the original rules were designed for paper-based systems, these have been modernized through a digital platform known as e-billing.

Core Withdrawal Requirements

1. Submission of Claims: No money can be withdrawn without the presentation of a bill to the treasury.
2. Acknowledgement of Receipt: All bills and checks must be duly received and acknowledged by the concerned payee. This often involves the crossing of checks and signing an acquittance roll, though digital systems have altered these physical signing requirements.
3. TR Rule 111: This rule originally stipulated that all bills must be prepared in the appropriate form and signed in ink. However, the system has largely transitioned to digital signatures (DSC).

Technical Standards for Treasury Bills

To maintain financial integrity, specific standards apply to the preparation of treasury bills, whether digital or physical.

Figures and Corrections

1. Precision in Amounts: Amounts must be clearly reflected in both words and figures. In the digital system, these are handled automatically to prevent discrepancies.
2. Erasures and Overwriting: No erasures, whiting, or overwriting are allowed on bill forms. In the manual system, corrections required a single strikethrough, the correct detail written in red ink, and the DDO's initials with a date. In the digital platform, any mistake requires the entire bill to be redone.
3. Account Classification: The full budget head of classification must be indicated on the body of the bill. In e-billing, this is handled through an authorization slip that systemically maps the head of account.

Submission Mechanisms

1. Bill Transit Register: DDOs traditionally submit bills via a transit register which records the gist of the bill. The treasury then acknowledges receipt within this register.
2. Private Party Claims: Private parties with claims against the government (e.g., suppliers) cannot approach the treasury directly. They must submit their claims through a responsible departmental officer.
3. Revenue Stamps: The requirement for revenue stamps is largely redundant because current transactions are handled via electronic transfers rather than cash.

Authorization Systems: From LOC/LOA to BEAMS

Historically, the government used two primary systems to allocate limits for specific heads of accounts:

1. Letter of Credit (LOC): Used specifically for check-drawing departments.
2. Letter of Assignment (LOA): Used for bill-drawing departments.

These systems have been replaced by the Budget Estimation Monitoring System (BEAMS), a digital platform for allocation and monitoring. Consequently, the treasury rules regarding LOCs and LOAs are undergoing review to reflect these technological shifts.

Standards for Checks and Check-Drawing Departments

Specific departments, such as Public Works (PWD), Public Health Engineering (PHE), Soil, and Forest, are authorized to draw funds via checks. These checks are supplied by the treasury, not the bank.

Security and Management

1. Physical Security: Checkbooks and leaves must be kept in a safe, locked cabinet as if they were cash.
2. Reporting Loss: Any loss of checkbooks or unused/mutilated leaves must be reported immediately to the treasury for cancellation.
3. Verification: Amounts in words and figures must match perfectly and be written legibly.
4. Security Sum (Under-Writing): A common safeguard involves writing an amount slightly higher than the check value on the side (e.g., if a check is for $Rs.\,1,000$, writing "Under $Rs.\,1,001$"). This prevents fraudulent manipulation during transit. Digital systems mitigate this risk by registering the amount at the source.

Validity and Negotiability

1. Validity Period: A government check is valid for exactly two months from the date of issue. However, any check issued in March remains valid only until March 31. If a check issued on March 31 is not paid before $12:00$ at night, it becomes a lapsed check.
2. Negotiability: Government checks are not transferable and cannot be endorsed to third parties.
3. Stop Payment: DDOs retain the authority to issue a stop-payment request to the treasury if a mistake is identified after the check has been sent for processing.

Scrutiny and Objections by the Treasury

Treasury officers object to bills or checks based on several critical criteria:

1. Admissibility of the Claim: This involves checking the validity of the sanction order and ensuring it was issued by a competent authority under the Delegation of Financial Power (DFP) rules.
2. Genuineness of Signatures: Historically, the treasury maintained specimen signatures of DDOs in guard files. This has shifted to verifying the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). Only the authorized individual can sign; if an officer is on leave, their proxy must use their own DSC, not that of the absent officer.
3. Supporting Documents: Invoices and statements must be uploaded to the digital system. Any physical corrections on invoices must be attested, scanned, and uploaded.
4. Payee Details: The DDO is fully responsible for the accuracy of payee details (e.g., bank account numbers). If a payment is sent to the wrong account due to DDO error, recovery is complex because the RBI central account section is located in Nagpur.

Personal Claims and Contingencies

Claims of Government Employees

1. First Payment: Requires a Last Pay Certificate (LPC). New joiners must submit their appointment order and a medical certificate of fitness with their first pay bill.
2. Claims Separation: Current claims and arrear claims (such as DA arrears) must never be mixed in a single bill; they must be prepared separately.
3. Evidence: Claims for Revision of Pay (ROP), such as the $2017$ revision effective from $01/01/2017$, must include documentary evidence (e.g., MACP benefits, suspension orders).
4. Due and Drawn Statements: For arrear bills, a statement must reflect what was previously drawn versus what is due, specifically referencing the period of the claim.

Contingent Charges

Contingent charges refer to expenses for office items and operations. The principle of financial prudence applies: officers must exercise the same vigilance as a person of ordinary prudence would with their own money.

1. Contingent Bill Register: All expenditures must be entered promptly and accurately.
2. Defacing Vouchers: To prevent double payment, all supporting vouchers must be cancelled or defaced after payment.
3. Lapse Prevention: Expenditure must not be drawn in anticipation of a bill merely to avoid the lapse of a budget grant at the end of the year.

Pension Claims and Digital Innovation

Treasury rules require pensioners to appear in person for payment to prevent impersonation, though this requirement has been modernized.

1. Appearance Intervals: Pensioners generally appear twice a year (every six months, typically January and July) for life verification.
2. Life Certificates: If a pensioner is exempted from appearance, a life certificate signed by a gazetted officer, MLA, MP, or Governor is required.
3. Digital Verification (Meghalaya Model): Meghalaya uses a unique AI-powered mobile app for biometric authentication. Pensioners must take a short video where they are required to blink and smile to prove "liveliness." This prevents the use of photographs for fraudulent verification.
4. Centralized Pension Processing System (CPPS): Pension bills are now prepared digitally, and funds are credited directly to bank accounts.

Government Deposits (Part Nine)

Deposits are categorized into Revenue Deposits (security deposits, earnest money, civil/criminal court deposits) and Personal Deposits (PD).

Prohibited Items for Revenue Deposits

1. Pay and pension of any person.
2. Fines pending appeal (these must go directly to the Revenue Head in the Consolidated Fund).
3. Jewels or physical property.
4. Non-cash securities.

Personal Deposit (PD) Accounts

1. Authorization: PD accounts must be authorized by the Accountant General.
2. Balances: PD account balances generally do not lapse to the government at year-end, though fund-based public deposit accounts are technically closed and reopened the next day for accounting purposes.
3. Inoperative Accounts: Accounts remaining inoperative for a long period are recommended for closure by the Accountant General.
4. Withdrawals: Generally permitted only by check (pink in color for PD, green for departmental work). Balances cannot go negative.

Lapse of Deposits (Rule 403)

Deposits that remain unclaimed are liable to lapse to the government under the following criteria:

1. Amount $< Rs.\,5$: Lapses after one whole financial year.
2. Amount $\geq Rs.\,5$: Lapses after being unclaimed for three years.
3. Refund of Lapsed Deposits: Requires authority from the Accountant General and a sanction from the government, drawn using Form TR 44.

The Digital Financial Ecosystem

The state utilizes an integrated platform architecture connected via the State API Gateway. This includes:

1. BEAMS: Budget Estimation Monitoring System for fund allocation. It ensures no bill is prepared without sufficient budget balance.
2. e-billing: Platform for DDOs to prepare and digitally sign bills.
3. TreasuryNet: The platform used by treasuries for claim processing.
4. IFMS (Integrated Financial Management System): Acts as the repository for all state financial data and handles reporting.
5. PFMS: The Government of India's system for Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
6. RBI e-Kuber: The bank platform that processes the actual government transactions.

Questions & Discussion

• Q: Can money be withdrawn without a bill?

• A: No, a bill is a mandatory requirement for claims against the treasury.

• Q: Is a rubber stamp signature allowed on a bill?

• A: No, facsimile or rubber stamp signatures are invalid; bills must be signed either in ink (historically) or via DSC (currently).

• Q: Can an old pay order from a previous financial year be revalidated?

• A: According to a $2017$ treasury rule amendment, revalidation of a pay order can only be done if it remains within the same financial year.

• Q: How is the accuracy of bank details ensured in the digital age?

• A: DDOs are advised to have bank account details attested by bank officials rather than gazetted officers to ensure accuracy in the RBI e-Kuber system.