Bihar orders scrutiny of education staff salaries after irregularities surface

PATNA: The Bihar government has directed the education and home departments to scrutinise the salaries and allowances of all their employees before releasing next month's salaries, following the detection of irregularities in salary processing, officials said on Friday. The move is likely to delay salaries of many employees, while payments to those found responsible for irregularities may be withheld.

While the education department has a workforce of over six lakh teachers and other staff, the home department has more than three lakh employees, including security personnel and police officers. In a letter dated October 9, Finance Department Principal Secretary Vinay Kumar asked both departments to ensure strict scrutiny of salary bills and take disciplinary and administrative action against officials responsible for irregularities.

"The salaries and allowances of all officers, teachers, including headmasters, non-teaching staff, security personnel, police officials and other employees, under the education and home departments must be scrutinised by the department's senior officers. This scrutiny shall be made mandatory before the salary payments for the next month are released," the letter said.

"Appropriate disciplinary and administrative action must be ensured against any Maker, Checker or Approver found responsible for irregularities at any stage of salary processing. Recovery of excess payments must also be ensured," it added.

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CAG flagged irregularities

The department has also been directed to assign salary-processing responsibilities to regular officers and employees in both departments. Salary bills are processed online through the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) portal at the Maker', Checker' and Approver' levels, with payments subsequently made through the Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS), the letter stated.

Instructions have been issued for compliance on a priority basis, with copies of the letter marked to all district magistrates for information and necessary action. Reacting to the development, Deputy Chief Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav told reporters that the CAG had flagged irregularities in the processing of salary bills in the education department, prompting the finance department to direct it to scrutinise the salaries and allowances of all officers, teachers and non-teaching staff before releasing next month's payments. He, however, did not mention the home department. Yadav also holds the portfolio of the finance department.