Don’t create new posts, avoid functions: Govt

The finance ministry has banned creating any new posts in the central government, in a new round of austerity measures, as it struggles with increasing spending to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Only exceptions would be the posts approved by the expenditure department under the ministry.

If any posts have been created after July 1 without the approval of the expenditure department and have not yet been filled, these posts will remain vacant, the memorandum says.

It also asked ministries and departments to carry out a review of individual consultants appointed by them and reduce their number to the minimum, while also restructuring the fee based on their quality of their work.

The government discouraged expenditure on functions such as celebrations of foundation day etc. and said no printing or publishing of books, documents etc. should be done on imported paper, except where it is done abroad by Indian Missions. “In the context of the present fiscal situation and the consequent pressure on government resources, there is a need for further economy and rationalisation of non-priority expenditure, while protecting and preserving priority expenditure,” the department said.