Delegation of Financial Powers Rules 2024 — Rules 20 and 21, Communication of Sanctions to Audit, Repeal and Savings

1. Communicating Finance Ministry Sanction to Audit (Rule 20(1))

Whenever the Finance Ministry’s consent or sanction is required under DFPR 2024, the Department itself — not the Finance Ministry — must communicate that consent to the Audit or Pay and Accounts Officer concerned, by adding a specific clause to the sanction:

“This order/memorandum issues with the concurrence of the Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure), vide their O.M./U.O. No.……. dated…….”

This single sentence does real work in the audit trail: it lets the Pay and Accounts Office verify, from the sanction document itself, that the underlying Finance Ministry concurrence actually exists, without needing to independently chase Finance Ministry files for every sanction that claims to have their concurrence.

2. Communicating Internal/Integrated Finance Adviser Approval (Rule 20(2))

Where a financial sanction is issued in exercise of DFPR 2024 powers, in consultation with the Internal Financial Adviser or Integrated Financial Adviser, and with the Competent Authority’s approval, it must similarly be communicated to Audit/Pay and Accounts Officer using the clause:

“This sanction issues with the approval of competent authority. The advice of Internal Finance / Integrated Finance was conveyed vide Dy. No./U.O. No.…… dated…….”

Both clauses exist for the same underlying reason: DFPR 2024 delegates monetary sanctioning power, but that power is almost always conditioned on a Financial Adviser or Finance Ministry consultation step, and Rule 20 ensures that condition is visible and verifiable on the face of the sanction itself, rather than buried in internal file-noting that Audit cannot easily see.

3. Repeal of DFPR 1978 (Rule 21(1))

Rule 21(1) formally repeals the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978. Critically, the repeal comes with a savings clause: it does not affect anything already done, any order already issued, any action already taken, or any powers already exercised before DFPR 2024 came into force. All sanctions, orders, and declarations issued under the 1978 Rules before 1 April 2024 continue to be operative and effective — they do not need to be reissued or re-validated under the new Rules merely because the underlying rule has changed.

This savings principle is standard legislative drafting practice, but it matters enormously in practice for anyone auditing or reviewing files that straddle the 1 April 2024 transition date: the correct test for the validity of a sanction is always the Rules in force at the time the sanction was issued, not the Rules in force today.

4. A Practical Transition Checklist for Officers

For any officer reviewing an old file, or drafting a fresh sanction today, the practical sequence is:

• Identify the date of the proposed (or historical) sanction.
• If before 1 April 2024, verify competence against DFPR 1978 and the delegation orders in force at that time.
• If on or after 1 April 2024, verify competence against DFPR 2024, Rule 12 delegation orders currently in force, and any Rule 2 relaxation Office Memoranda specific to the Department.
• In every case, add the correct Rule 20 clause reflecting the actual Finance Ministry or Financial Adviser concurrence obtained.

Read together, Rules 1 through 21 of DFPR 2024 form a complete, self-contained system: who has power (Rules 3, 6, 11, 12), how far it can be pushed down (Rules 5, 12), how funds move once power is exercised (Rules 4, 7, 8, 9, 10), the special categories requiring extra care (Rules 13–19), and finally, how that exercise of power is made visible and auditable (Rule 20), with Rule 21 anchoring the whole framework in its transition from the 1978 regime.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)