Municipal Corporation Panchkula Commissioner Sachin Gupta has redistributed his powers following the transfer of Joint Commissioner Richa Rathi. The authority to make payments for works up to Rs 50 lakh has now been delegated to the XEN and Senior Account Officer. Previously, for payments up to Rs 50 lakh, the file had to go through XEN, SE, DMC, the Joint Commissioner, and then the Account Officer. However, now the XEN can directly approve the file and send it to the Senior Account Officer, saving time and eliminating the need for contractors to make rounds to obtain approvals.
For a considerable time, several projects in the Municipal Corporation Panchkula had come to a halt due to non-payment of contractors, notably including the community centers in Sector 7 and 10. More than 70 projects, each worth up to Rs 50 lakh, are underway in the Municipal Corporation Panchkula. The powers of each officer have been detailed in approximately 60 pages of orders issued by the Commissioner.
The Commissioner has granted all financial and technical powers to the Joint Commissioner, DMC, Senior Account Officer, and Superintending Engineer. Each designated officer will personally approve the files for the powers granted to them. A Sanitation and Legal Committee has been established to make decisions related to these two departments.
According to the orders, the Finance and Contract Committee will provide administrative approval for projects ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2.5 crore, with technical approval given by the SE. For projects worth Rs 2.5 crore to Rs 10 crore, the Finance and Contract Committee will offer administrative approval, with technical approval provided by the Chief Engineer.
DMC has been empowered to grant administrative approval for projects unrelated to the engineering wing up to Rs 10 lakh. Simultaneously, the administrative SE will approve projects up to Rs 5 lakh related to the engineering wing. Furthermore, the Joint Commissioner will provide administrative approval for engineering-related projects up to Rs 25 lakh, seeking the Commissioner’s approval for amounts exceeding that limit.
The orders specify that the authority for running and final bills of works, with a total amount up to Rs 50 lakh, has been assigned to the XEN.
A committee, chaired by the SE and including a section officer and XEN as members, has been established for payments ranging from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2.5 crore. For payments of Rs 2.5 to Rs 10 crore, the committee, chaired by the Joint Commissioner, will include the SE, Senior Account Officer, DMC, and XEN as members. For payments exceeding Rs 10 crore, the Commissioner will lead the committee, with the Joint Commissioner, SE, Senior Account Officer, DMC, and XEN as members.