Constitution of Departmental Approval Committee

Government of West Bengal
Finance Department
Writers, Buildings, Kolkata – 700 001.

No. 1880-F Dated, March 7, 2007

MEMORANDUM

Sub.: Procedure for according administrative approval to plan projects/ schemes

The Governor is pleased to lay down the following procedure for according administrative approval to plan projects/ schemes:

A. Projects/ schemes with project cost not exceeding Rs. 3 crore.

1. Each Department shall constitute a Departmental Approval Committee (DAC) comprising of the following:

(i) Additional Chief Secretary /Principal Secretary /Secretary – Chairman

(ii) Special Secretary (or where there is no Special Secretary, the Joint Secretary) in Charge of the Administrative Group of the Finance Department that corresponds to the Administrative Department – Member

(iii) Technical Head of the Department, or the head of the Directorate entrusted with implementation of the scheme – Member

(iv) Special Secretary /Joint Secretary of the Department as may be nominated by the Additional Chief Secretary/ Principal Secretary/ Secretary – Member

2. All plan projects/ schemes with project cost not exceeding Rs.3 crore shall be placed before the DAC. The Special Secretary or the Joint Secretary, as the case may be, of the Finance Department shall perform the function of Financial Advisor (F.A.) of the Administrative Department in the DAC. The F.A. shall play a key role in the Committee and in his absence no meeting of the DAC shall be held.

3. The Committee shall have the power to accord administrative approval of projects/schemes with cost estimate not exceeding Rs. 3 crore.

4. No project /scheme shall be approved by the DAC without the consent of the F.A. The specific opinion of the F.A. in regard to all the schemes will have to be recorded in the proceedings of the meeting.

5. Where the F.A. does not give his consent for approval of a project /scheme, he will give his reasons for disagreement, which will form part of the proceedings of the meeting.

6. A statement of projects /schemes approved by the DAC along with a record of proceedings shall be handed over to the F.A. in duplicate, who will return one copy to the Administrative Department with the U.O. Number of the Finance Department forthwith.

7. If notwithstanding the note of dissent of the F.A., the Department is still of the view that the proposal should be pursued, then it should be sent to Finance Department for consideration.

B. Projects/ schemes with project cost exceeding Rs. 3 crore but not exceeding Rs. 20 crore.

In case of plan projects /schemes for which the project cost exceeds Rs. 3 crore but does not exceed Rs. 20 crore. Administrative Department shall send the proposal to the Finance Department with all relevant particulars including the estimate of the projects duly vetted by the competent technical authority. The proposal shall include the objectives of the project, the benefits accruing out of it, the means of financing, etc. and shall also contain a statement indicating how the project/ scheme fits in the overall perspective plan of the Department. Decision shall be taken by the Finance Department after due examination of the project.

C. Project with project cost exceeding Rs. 20 crore.

The plan projects /schemes for which the project cost exceeds Rs. 20 crore shall be referred to the State Planning Board in the first instance with all relevant details as mentioned under (B) above and thereafter the same shall be sent to Finance Department along with the observations of the State Planning Board. Decision shall be taken by the Finance Department keeping in view the recommendation of the State Planning Board.

This supersedes all previous notifications /orders on the subject.

Appropriate amendment to the Delegation of Financial Power Rules will be made in due course.

Sd/- Samar Ghosh
Principal Secretary to the
Government of West Bengal

No. 1880-F dated 07.03.2007