CHAPTER 11
TREASURY OPERATIONS
11.1 The treasury system under which the
District Treasury is the basic unit and the focal point for the primary record
of financial transactions of Government in the District with sub-treasuries
under it at the Taluks/Tehsils in the District, was evolved more than a century
ago.
ട്രഷറികൾ ബാങ്കിംഗ്, നോൺ ബാങ്കിംഗ് എന്നിങ്ങനെ രണ്ട് തരത്തിലാണ്. ഒരു ബാങ്ക് ട്രഷറി എന്നാൽ ഒരു ട്രഷറി എന്നാണ് അർത്ഥമാക്കുന്നത്, ഇതിന്റെ പണമിടപാട് റിസർവ് ബാങ്ക് അല്ലെങ്കിൽ അതിന്റെ ബ്രാഞ്ചുകൾ അല്ലെങ്കിൽ സർക്കാർ ബിസിനസ്സ് നടത്താൻ അധികാരമുള്ള ഏജൻസികൾ നടത്തുന്നതാണ്, കൂടാതെ ബാങ്ക് ഇതര ട്രഷറി ഒരു ബാങ്ക് ട്രഷറി ഒഴികെയുള്ള ഒരു ട്രഷറിയാണ്, അതായത് ഒരു ട്രഷറി ക്യാഷ് ബിസിനസ്സ് അതിൽ നിന്നാണ് ഇത് നടത്തുന്നത്.
11.3 The functions entrusted to the treasury
broadly fall under:
(a) receipt of money from the public and
departmental officers for credit to Government.
(b) Payment of claims against Government on
bills or cheques or other instruments presented by the departmental drawing and
disbursing officers or pensioners or others authorized to do so.
(c) Keeping initial and subsidiary accounts of
the receipts and payments occurring at them and rendering statements of such
transactions to the Accountants General for detailed compilation and
consolidation.
(d) Acting as a banker in respect of funds of
local bodies, Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Institutions, etc, who keep their
funds with the treasuries.
(e) Custody of opium and other valuable because
of the strong room facility provided at the treasury, which cannot be
considered as exactly germane to the function of the treasury.
(f) Custody of cash balances of the State
Government and conducting cash business of Government at non-banking
treasuries.
Personnel
11.4 The personnel of a non Bank Treasury
consists of (1) the Collector of Deputy Commissioner of the District; (2) the
Treasury Officer, generally a Deputy Collector; (3) the Treasurer; and (4) the
Accountant. As cash business of a Bank Treasury is conducted by the Reserve
Bank, there is no Treasurer in Bank Treasuries.
11.5 The Collector or Deputy Commissioner of the
District is in general charge of the treasury and is personally responsible for
its general administration, for the correctness of its returns and the
punctuality of their submission, and for the safe custody of the cash and other
valuables it contains; but he takes no part in the daily routine of treasury
business. The Treasury Officer is in immediate executive control of the
treasury.
Opening of the
Treasury
Both the
Treasury Officer and the Treasurer being present, the locks and seals of the
gates of the strong room are made over intact by the guard and the room is
opened, each official using his own key, and sufficient cash and notes to meet
the probable demands of the day are taken but, made over to the Treasurer, and
entered in his accounts. The strong room is then again double locked. Issues
from the strong room to meet further demands during the day are similarly made.
Opium is issued to the Treasurer from the double lock as required, subject to
the general rule that the value of cash, notes and opium in the hands of the
Treasurer at any time shall not exceed his security.
Receipts
11.7 In the case receipts, the treasury checks
the correctness of classification and completeness of the challan. In cases
where challan are counter signed by the departmental officers and the treasury
does not handle cash business of the Government, the departmental officer
countersigning the challans ensures the correctness of classification and
completeness of the challan and the depositor makes the remittances direct at
the Bank. In other cases where challan are not countersigned by the
departmental officer, the depositor gets the challan checked by the treasury
and remits the amount at the Bank or the treasury as the case may be. In
certain cases like those of payments on account of Sales Tax, etc. challans are
not required to be checked by the Treasury and the amounts are directory
received by the Banks from the depositors.
Payments
11.8 In the case of payments, claims are
presented in the prescribed form at the treasury by the departmental drawing
offices or by the public or pensioners. The bills presented by the public are
countersigned by departmental officers. These claims are subject to treasury
checks such as arithmetical accuracy, correctness of the classification,
comparison of signature of the departmental drawing officer with the specimen signatures
on record with the treasury, identification of the payee, conformity with
authority, if any, issued by the Accountant General or the sanction of the
competent authority, completeness of the bill with supporting schedules in
respect of recoveries etc. The Bills are then passed for payment and sent to
the bank which makes the payment for the amounts as passed by the treasury
after identification of the payee. In places where the system of cheque
payments by the treasury has been introduced, the treasury makes the payment of
bills passed for payment through cheques which are enchased by the payees at
the bank. In the case of non-banking treasuries, the treasury also perform the
function of making the cash payments.
11.9 In the case of banking treasury/sub-treasury,
the bank which receives the money and makes the payments, send a scroll daily
of the receipt and payments transactions occurring there to the corresponding
treasury/sub-treasury. These bank scrolls merely list out the individual
receipts and payments giving the particulars of the depositor/payee and amounts
and are required to reach the treasury the same evening or the next morning.
11.10 The sub-treasuries are not required to
compile the transactions occurring with them. They send the account of
transactions, both receipts and payments, along with the supporting documents
(challans and vouchers) daily to the district treasury. In some States, the
sub-treasury compiles the receipt transactions under certain tax revenue heads
such as sales tax. The accounts of the sub-treasury are incorporated in the
accounts of the district treasury on the same day or at the latest on the day
following the day of their receipt in the same way, as if they had taken place
with it.
Daily closing
11.11 The process of closing a State treasury
for the day is as follows:
(i) The Accountant transfers the totals of his
subsidiary registers into the cash book and prepares a balance sheet in a
prescribed form.
(ii) The Treasury Officer, checks both registers
and cash books, comparing each payment entry with its voucher and the register
totals with those entered in the cash books, and verifies a certain number of
the totals, the rest being checked by a Clerk; other than the Accountant. The
cashbook totals are also checked by a senior subordinate other than the
Accountant.
(iii) Meanwhile, the Treasurer sums both sides
of his cash book and draws up a balance memorandum which gives details in kind
of the notes, coins; etc.. Comparing the balances in his hands.
If the results in the balance sheet agree, the
Treasury Officer signs the cash book and the balance sheet and the accounts for
the day are closed.
Note1: -The
Accountant’s balance includes the balances of the sub-treasuries and also the
remittances in transit between the treasuries in the district, which have to be
deducted before agreement can be effected with the Treasurer’s balance.
(iv) The Treasury Officer then verifies the
cash, etc. in the hands of the Treasurer as shown in his balance and together
with the Treasurer, locks it up under double lock in the strong room, which is
then left for the night in charge of the guard.
Monthly Balance
11.12 The working of the treasury proceeds in
this way from day t day, and the monthly process is completed by the cash (coin
and notes) present in the district treasury on the last day of the month being
verified by the Collector himself or, if he is absent from headquarters or is
otherwise unable to perform the duty, by a responsible assistant, the cash in
each sub-treasury being similarly verified by the local officer in charge. An
actual cash balance report for the whole district it then drawn up with which
the account balance is compared.
Monthly Accounts
അക്കൗണ്ടന്റ് ജനറലിലേക്കുള്ള പ്രതിമാസ വരുമാനം അയയ്ക്കുന്നതിനുള്ള പോയിന്റ് ഇപ്പോൾ എത്തിയിരിക്കുന്നു. ട്രഷറികളുടെ കാര്യത്തിൽ സംസ്ഥാനത്തിന്റെയും യൂണിയന്റെയും ഇടപാടുകൾക്ക് പ്രത്യേകമായ ഈ പ്രതിമാസ റിട്ടേണുകൾ (i) രണ്ട് ഭാഗങ്ങളിലുള്ള പേയ്മെന്റിന്റെ ഷെഡ്യൂളുകൾ ഉൾക്കൊള്ളുന്നു, പേയ്‌മെന്റുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട ആദ്യത്തേത് 10 മുതൽ 10 വരെ മാസം, ബാക്കി മാസത്തിൽ ഉണ്ടാക്കിയവയുടെ രണ്ടാം ഭാഗം (ii) രസീതുകളുടെ ഷെഡ്യൂൾ; (iii) പേയ്‌മെന്റുകളുടെ ഒരു ലിസ്റ്റ്; (iv) ഒരു പണ അക്കൗണ്ട്. അക്കൗണ്ടന്റിന്റെ ക്യാഷ് ബുക്കിൽ നിന്നും അതിലേക്കുള്ള രജിസ്റ്റേഴ്സ് സബ്സിഡിയറിയിൽ നിന്നും ഇവ ട്രഷറിയിൽ ദിവസവും എഴുതുന്നു, കൂടാതെ വൗച്ചറുകൾ ദിവസം തോറും അക്കമിട്ട് ക്രമീകരിച്ച് ലോക്കിനും കീയ്ക്കും കീഴിൽ വയ്ക്കുന്നു.
11.14 There are separate schedules of receipts
and expenditure for each department and for each major head of account not
relating to any particular department and in them the transactions are entered
in sufficient detail to enable the preliminary compilation by the Accountant
General to be made there from and the vouchers to be identified according to
the classification given in them. The list of payments and the cash account
show respectively the total payments made and the total receipts collected, during
the month, detailed according to each schedule, or, in respect of the Debt,
Deposit and Remittance transaction, according to broad account classification.
The cash Account also works up to the actual cash balance in the treasury on
the last day of the month, as personally counted by the Collector, after
bringing into it the total payments as shown in the list of Payments.
11.15 The first batch of payments schedules,
supported by necessary vouchers is sent to the Accountant General on the 10th and 11th of the month; and the remaining schedules
supported by necessary vouchers, the list of payments and the cash account,
which is accompanied by a certificate of agreement of the account balance with
the balance reported in the cash balance report of the treasury for the last
day of the month, are sent on the first day of the succeeding month.
Note- In
Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the treasuries follow a different procedure.
They compile the payment transactions also in detail and render a compiled
account to the Accountant General both for receipts and payments. They account
for all recoveries made in the bills under the appropriate receipts heads of
account and the payments on such bills on a gross basis under the appropriate
major, minor sub and detailed heads of account. In other works, they render to
the Accountant General a completely classified abstract of payments for each
major head along with supporting fly leaves showing the particulars of
individual vouchers and the amounts thereof, comprised in the total shown under
each head of account and schedules of payments listing out the individual
vouchers supported by the vouchers themselves.
11.16 The schedules, List of Payments and Cash Account described
above, as sent from each treasury monthly to the Accountant General, represent
the first stage of compilation of the Government accounts. They cover jointly
the whole of the public transaction including departmental accounts and debt,
deposit and remittance transactions. They may be said to constitute the primary
fabric of the State Government accounts in India.
Daily and Monthly Agreement
11.17 It will be noticed generally that the
correctness of the daily accounts of a self-contained treasury is secured by
making two independent officials (the Accountant and the Treasurer) separately
deal with the record of each item of receipt and payment and it occurs, and by
effecting and agreement at the end of the day between the two sets of accounts
thus prepared, and at the same time verifying the actual cash balance is the
hands of the Treasurer. This daily check is reinforced by the actual count of
the whole of the cash balance in the treasury on the last day of each month by
the Collector himself.
11.18 Similarly the same custody of the treasury
is secured by placing it jointly in the hands of two independent officials, the
Treasury Officer and the Treasurer (one whom, the Treasurer, gives substantial
security) under the system of double locks.
Classification in the Treasury Accounts
11.19 As already explained, the bills and
vouchers, before presentation at the treasury, are required to be enfaced by
the department concerned with the proper account classification; and from these
enfacements the transactions are broadly classified in the schedules (in the
case of revenue receipts and service payments), and in the list of payments and
the cash accounts (in the case of Debt, Deposit and Remittance transactions).
For this purpose, these documents have the broad account classification printed
on them, and in the majority of cases the totals of the monthly receipts and
payments are entered against these printed heads from the subsidiary registers
maintained at the treasury. But a few items occur every month which does not
clearly fall under any of the printed heads or in respect of which the full
account classification is wanting and thus the treasury describes in detail in
the body of the schedule or the cash account or the list of payments and leaves
to the Accountant General to classify. The Accountant General does this and
also cheeks the classification already made by the departmental officers in the
bills and vouchers and by the Treasury Officer in the account submitted by him.
Treasury Inspection
11.20 Each treasury is inspected periodically by
a Gazetted Officer deputed by the Accountant General. The Inspection Report is
sent to the Collector in two parts, one relating to currency (Resource and
Public Debt matters which are administered by the Reserve Bank) and the other
dealing with all other points. The Accountant General also sends a copy of the
first part of the Report to the Currency Officer in whose jurisdiction the
treasury is situated. The Collector reports the action taken by him on the
Report to the Accountant General and sends a copy of the orders on the first
part to the Currency Officer who informs the Accountant General whether the
action taken is adequate or any further action is required. The Accountant
General brings to the notice of the Commissioner of the Division all matters in
which he thinks that the action taken by the Collector is inadequate or which
he considers should receive the attention of the Commissioner. The Accountant
General reports to the State Government all-important points or irregularities
not settled by reference to the Commissioner. Any point of importance affecting
the Central Government is also normally brought to the notice of that
Government by the Accountant General but in special cases they are reported
through the Comptroller and Auditor General.
In matters
of accounts and check at the treasury, the Collector with Treasury Officer
under him, is responsible to the Accountant General whose instructions he is
bound to carry out. The accountant General dose not, however, ordinarily
interfere with the Collector’s responsibility for the practical working of the
Treasury further than by constant correspondence with him for the removal of
irregularities detected in the accounts and return submitted. The Currency
Officer concerned controls the Resource of the treasury, that is to say, he
keeps it supplied with sufficient coins and notes and when necessary removes
surplus funds elsewhere. In all matters relating to Resource, the Collector is
bound to carry out the instructions of the Currency Officer.