Thiruvananthapuram: Recognising that multiple layers of scrutiny were slowing the rollout of schemes announced in the budget and reply speech, the finance department has overhauled its approval process, allowing administrative departments to bypass the departmental working group and special working group and send proposals directly for financial appraisal.The revised guidelines issued on July 31 acknowledge that routing proposals through the working group and special working group—mechanisms primarily meant to grant administrative sanction for plan schemes—could delay approvals. To speed up implementation, govt has introduced a simplified processing system for all schemes announced in the revised budget, reply speech and future budgets.“This is an effort to eliminate procedural delays and ensure that budget announcements are translated into projects on the ground much faster. The idea is to shorten the approval chain without compromising on financial scrutiny or accountability,” a senior finance department official said.Under the new system, the finance department will first identify the nodal departments responsible for implementing new schemes. Proposals will then be classified into three categories: Schemes with an existing head of account and budget allocation; schemes with a budget announcement but no head of account or allocation; and schemes announced without any financial allocation.A key change is that administrative departments can forward proposals directly to the concerned Finance Department wing with the approval of the minister concerned, instead of routing them through the departmental working group and special working group. The finance department will obtain technical comments from agencies such as the information technology department, chief technical examiner and planning board, wherever necessary, before processing the proposals.The order also empowers administrative departments to issue administrative sanction for new schemes after securing the concurrence of the finance department. However, schemes already included in the annual plan will continue to follow the existing approval procedure.To prevent incomplete proposals and repeated queries, the finance department has introduced a scrutiny checklist. Departments will have to provide information on project objectives, implementation strategy, cost estimates, funding pattern and procurement method, as well as beneficiary selection, manpower requirements, vehicle procurement, project timelines and physical targets, before appraisal.At present, projects and schemes with an outlay below Rs 25 crore are forwarded to a working group chaired by the secretary of the concerned department. Projects costing more than Rs 25 crore are scrutinised by a special working Group chaired by the finance secretary and comprising the secretary of the administrative department.
