Appoint nodal officer till IFMS is put in place: Gauhati High Court

Pay-slips of judicial officers

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: A division bench of the Gauhati High Court comprising Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Devashis Baruah asked the office of the AG (Accountant General) to notify a dedicated helpline number and appoint a nodal officer to deal with the issues being faced by judicial officers till the IFMS (Integrated Financial Management System) is put in place.

During the hearing of the petition filed by the Assam Judicial Service Association (AJSA) and eight others, the Chief Justice said, "Why can't you improve your system? These are their entitlements arising from their service. Why are they (judicial officials) supposed to run around for this?"

During the hearing, learned senior standing counsel of the Gauhati High Court, U.K. Nair, placed on record a report highlighting the issues still being faced by the Judicial Officers in the matter of the generation of pay-slips and associated issues.

A copy of the report has been provided to the counsel appearing for the Accountant General. V. Annapurna, Deputy Accountant General; P. Tigga, Sr. Accounts Officer; M. Kumar, Assistant Accounts Officer; and Kuntal Sharma Pathak, AJS, Legal Remembrancer-cum-Secretary to the Government of Assam, were present in the Court.

The counsel for the AG, B. Chakraborty, assured that the IFMS would be made operational within the next six months so as to do away with the day-to-day issues being faced by the judicial officers and other State Government employees.

The bench ordered that until the IFMS is put in place, the Accountant General shall notify a dedicated helpline number and appoint a Nodal Officer to deal with the issues being faced by the Judicial Officers. "Needless to say that the helpline number and the Nodal Officer shall be available during office hours so as to address the issues and complaints of the Judicial Officers in relation to pay-slips and associated issues," the order said.

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