AP govt clarifies on debiting from GPF accounts of employees

DA arrear bills which have been the components of adjustment to GPF and payment in cash were sent to payment application for clearance after approval by the DTA as per procedure. Even though the bills were not cleared in the payment application, the DA arrear amounts were erroneously credited to the GPF account of the employees due to a technical glitch

Visakhapatnam: After the associations belonging to 90,000-odd employees raised a ruckus over alleged withdrawal of about Rs 800 crore from their GPF accounts without their knowledge, the Andhra Pradesh government denied the charge and clarified that the amount got deducted due to a glitch and they will rectify it soon.

The government employees received the shock of their lives recently when they got messages on debiting the amount from their GPF accounts.

"When I checked, I found Rs 83,000 mysteriously deducted from my balance," AP Government Employees' Association President K Rama Suryanarayana told the media on Wednesday.

Soon Bopparaju Venkateswarlu and other employees' leaders alleged that the amount was deducted by the government from their accounts too. Earlier, the government had assured employees to remit dearness allowance and Pay Revision Commission arrears into their GPF accounts. The remittance was done for the past six months. The amount credited into their account was suddenly deducted due to reasons best known to the officials concerned.

Denying any malafide intention behind it, in a late night clarification, the Finance Department through a rejoinder signed by Shameer Singh Rawat, Special Chief Secretary, contended that due to a technical glitch, the issue cropped up. Based on complaints from the employees, the matter was probed by the Director of Treasury and Accounts (DTA).

According to the rejoinder, the DA arrear bills which have been the components of adjustment to GPF and payment in cash were sent to payment application for clearance after approval by the DTA as per procedure. Even though the bills were not cleared in the payment application, the DA arrear amounts were erroneously credited to the GPF account of the employees due to a technical glitch.

The rejoinder stated that as per treasury rules, all the bills which remain pending as on March 31 of every year shall be cancelled by the concerned treasury officer. Due to cancellation of unpaid DA arrear bills, the adjustment amounts which were erroneously credited to GPF accounts of employees, were also reversed by the system's software.

"It is clarified that barring the said transaction, no other auto debits took place from the GPF account of any employee. It is further clarified that the government is taking necessary measures to rectify the technical glitch," Rawat stated.

The government pointed out that the DA arrear amount will be credited and reflected in the GPF accounts of employees as and when it is disbursed. The government is taking action for the payment of the DA arrears and other employee benefits at the earliest in a time-bound manner. The government reiterated that no other auto debits have taken place from the GPF account of any of the employees.