Govt clarifies after confidential order on employees' salaries goes viral

The Ministry of Finance on Saturday issued a clarification over a confidential government order that has gone viral on social media.

The order is regarding the salaries of government employees for the month of June. The government has clarified the order is only applicable to a specific office attached to the Department of Expenditure and salaries of employees working in other departments will not be affected.

The government also asked people not to circulate the order, according to an official statement.

"The general public is also forewarned and cautioned not to circulate the order since it is confidential in nature and may attract punitive actions under the applicable legal provisions."

The statement said: "It is clarified and informed that the Department of Expenditure 's order dated 18th June 2019 relating to the disbursal of salary for the month of June 2019 is applicable to only an attached office under the Department of Expenditure namely, the O/o Controller General of Accounts and the officials working in the PFMS Project Cell and temporary in nature to avoid exceeding the Vote on Account limit."

According to reports, excess expenditure over and above the limit of one-third of the provisions in the Vote on Account by the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) forced the Finance Ministry to defer the salaries of group A and B employees in the Department of Expenditures for the month of June till provisions are made for them in the full Budget in July.