Payment of 1st First Salary through FI Module dt 12.04.2018

Payment of 1st First Salary through FI Module dt 12.04.2018

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: 1st First Salary through FI Module

I am directed to refer to your office letter No. E&D/MULTAN/CD-1893 dated 30-03-2018 along with an inquiry report conducted by the office of the Accountant General Punjab, Lahore in the alleged scam.

2. In this context, it is submitted that Inspectorate of Treasuries and Accounts has serious reservations on the payment of arrear claims of the pay & allowances to the employees through HR Module of SAP R/3 system. The Accountant General Punjab vide its letter No. HR/Blockage of salary through FI/CD-446 dated 27-05-2014 had issued directions to all the District Accounts Officers in the Punjab to pay arrear claims of salary to employees of the Punjab Government through HR Module of payment instead of FI Module of Payment.

3. The reasons of the reservations at the afore-stated letter of the Accountant General Punjab, Lahore are stated below:-

1. It is worth mentioning here that in the beginning of SAP implementation PIFRA Authorities engaged the Services of Siemens Company for uploading of Personnel Data (s) of the employees throughout the Punjab. Due to lack of coordination by the departments and laxity of supervision of concerned staff of the District Accounts Offices, the KPOS belonging to the Siemens Company relied upon the in-complete service particulars of the employees as entered in the “Resource Forms”, incorrect and Dummy entries in different fields of HR data were made by them. No serious efforts have been made to cleanse this data and almost all the incorrect/ dummy data still exists in the system and the same incorrect/dummy data has been firstly used in payment of salaries and subsequently the same data shifted to other accounting areas in SAP.
2. In the First Phase only Two Modules of Payments i.e. “FI” and “HR” were introduced for making payments of Non-Salary Components (Contingencies) and Pay and Allowances respectively. Under the “FI Module” of payment, the bills either relating to contingencies (NSB) or Pay and Allowances or on account of arrears / adjustment of pay & allowances there is a restriction in the System regarding availability of online budgetary allocation due to which no payments through system generated cheques are authorized. Under “F.I mode of payment” the DDOS are required to submit manual bills along with vouchers, sanctions and other relevant documents being the prerequisite of pre-audit.
3. According to HR Module, the payment of Pay and Allowances was made on- line in the Bank Accounts of the Civil Servants concerned without any restrictions of Budget imposed in the system. In case the Bank Accounts of the Civil Servants were not readily available / opened, the payments were authorized through DDOS at the first instance.
4. During the pendency of the exercise regarding up-dating of data and correction of the discrepancies in the areas of Pay & Allowances, the payments of salaries in case of First Appointments, Transfer Cases, Arrear Bills, Broken Periods as a result of retirement / reinstatement of a civil servants were being processed partially through “FI Modules” whereby the payments were being made through DDOS.
5. The office of the Accountant General Punjab Lahore vide letter No. HR/Blockage of salary through FI/CD-446 dated 27.05.2014 issued directions to the DAOS for releasing all types of salary claims essentially through the “HR” module of SAP blocking “FI” mode of the system. Prior to issuance of Accountant General Orders dated 25-07-2014, the arrear claims and first salary claims which were being paid through DDO as one of the preventive measures against illegal / unauthorized claims ensuring the disbursements there against to the person(s) legally entitled and to involve the DDO in sharing the responsibility.
6. Similarly, the arrear claims requiring additional budget vide rule 2.27 of PFR were being entertained through FI and as a result of a check imposed there in system regarding availability sufficiently of budget, the DAOs had an opportunity to keep the payments within the budgetary allocation / cash resource. Since the blockage of FI System regarding authorization of afore-stated claims through HR-Module where General Relaxation / exemption as to availability of budget exists, the very purpose to process 1 salary claims, arrear bills, part payment in retirement cases etc through FI, was not achieved. The maximum fraud/ embezzlement till date relates to the authorization of Payments through “H-R Module” against adjustment bills on the basis of H.R Form Pay-02 presented at counter of the District Accounts Offices without supporting documents and in case supplied / attached with forms were not properly checked by the pre-audit staff. Although while shifting FI mode of Payment to HR mode of payment the PIFRA authorities approved work flow which was further circulated by the Accountant General Punjab, Lahore vide his office order No. TM-1/87 dated 06-02-2014 as preventive measures against fraudulent payments yet the instructions couldn’t be implemented in letter and spirit by the District Accounts Offices.

4. In this regard it is recommended that, The Accountant General Punjab, Lahore may be pleased to withdraw his instructions regarding Blockage of FI-Module for making payments of first salary claims / adjustments / part-payments in case of retirements / posting & transfers etc. for the time being till the up-dation and reconciliation of data of all the employees in SAP System.

5. So far as the allegation regarding Mr. Khizar Hayat is concerned, it is requested that a copy of Standard Instructions/Directions relating to SAP initiatives / activities relating to KPO; may be provided to this office to proceed further in this matter.