BHUBANESWAR: The state government has restricted the financial powers of the Startup Odisha authorities.
The decision was taken days after MSME Minister Gokulananda Mallik visited O-Hub, the state’s maiden centralised incubation centre, following allegations of irregularities and negligence to Odisha startups.
As per the notification issued by the MSME department, the financial power of executive chairman has been limited up to Rs 1 crore and that of board of directors up to Rs 10 crore. However, the MSME department (100 per cent shareholder of Startup Odisha) has the full power for sanctioning and incurring expenditure of any type, including schematic, non-schematic, recurring, non-recurring, revenue and capital, etc.
All instructions, circulars and guidelines issued by the previous government relating to the delegation of financial power have been revoked.
The department will now take the decision for the engagement of consultants, hiring or outsourcing of services, construction works, procurement of goods and services, undertaking new projects etc.
“Full power has been given to executive chairman of Startup Odisha for sanctioning and incurring routine expenditure related to salary, remuneration of employees, routine payment towards outsourced services/consultancy charges etc,” stated the notification.