VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday directed the State government to explain when it would credit back the amount withdrawn from the GPF accounts of government employees clearly.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Gazetted Officers JAC chairman KV Krishnaiah, a division bench, comprising Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu, directed the Finance Department Principal Secretary to file a detailed affidavit in this regard.
Further, the government was advised not to create a situation, wherein the court is forced to issue an order for verification of government accounts by an independent chartered accountant under its supervision. The case hearing was adjourned to August 3.
Krishnaiah filed the PIL against the GO issued for the revised pay scales in February and at that time the division bench headed by the Chief Justice, directed the government not to recover any amount from employees’ salaries, else it would treat the matter very seriously.
Petitioner’s counsel P Ravi Teja said without any prior notice, the government had withdrawn amounts from the GPF accounts of employees. He said Rs 91,226 was withdrawn from the account of his client. It is nothing but contempt of the court order, he added.
Presenting his arguments, Advocate General S Sriram said withdrawal of amount from the GPF accounts had happened due to technical glitch. Once DDOs submit bills and the same are cleared by the Treasury department, the amount will be credited back to the accounts of employees. The process of bills' submission and their clearance has already commenced.
Once BRO is given, the amount will be credited back. When the AG started reading details from the affidavit filed, the bench in a lighter vein observed that even CAG could not understand it. It sough to know by what time, the government will definitely credit back the withdrawn amount.
The bench also said technical details seemed to be brought to the fore in a bid to escape from the contempt of court. It asked why the permissions, that were not needed for withdrawing Rs 2,200 crore from the government employees accounts, are required when they amount has to be credited back.