The Finance Department of Jammu and Kashmir government has directed officers to travel by economy class and ensure austerity in utilisation of funds.
In an order issued today by the Principal Secretary Finance Department, Santosh D Vaidya, over authorisation of funds under revenue budget out of budgetary estimates 2025-26, among the several conditions laid for the utilisation of funds, officers have been asked to ensure regulation of travel expenditure.
Asking departments to restrict expenditure within the allocated budget, the Finance Department has stipulated that international travel shall not be allowed unless specific permission is granted. Within the country the officers have been ordered to travel only by economy class regardless of entitlement.
Principal Secretary Finance also sought that the electricity and water dues of all government premises should be cleared in time and metering of connections to all government offices and buildings should be ensured.
The officers have been asked to ensure economy in budget utilisation for several expenditures like LTC, telephone, PoL, advertisements, publicity, hospitality and sumptuary activities.
It has been ordered that camps, seminars, and conferences should be held in government-owned spaces and “utmost economy shall be observed in organising such events.”
“Purchase of new vehicles should be minimised and should be as per the government’s car policy regarding entitlement. The existing deployment of vehicles should be evaluated thoroughly to ensure optimal use. Avenues of reducing non-priority revenue expenditure should be pursued consistently through rationalisation, redeployment of staff, cadre reviews, strict biometric attendance, adherence to e-tendering and GeM in procurement,” the Finance department ordered.
The e-tendering has been sought to be carried out in a time-bound manner, and all the bidding processes have been ordered to be completed by or before April 30 for the financial year 2025-26.
The departments have been asked to maintain a ceiling of 30 percent during the last quarter of the financial year 2025-26 and restrict the expenditure during the last month of the financial year 2025-26 to 15 percent of budget allocation.
The departments have also been ordered that no diversion shall be made under any “pretext unless expressly authorised by the Finance Department.”