Chandigarh (Balwinder Singh) — In a major step toward enhancing administrative accountability and business confidence, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has directed the Finance Department to formulate a policy to pay interest to firms, companies, and contractors facing unwarranted delays in government payments. Reviewing administrative best practices across state departments at the Haryana Civil Secretariat on Monday, the Chief Minister stressed that private vendors delivering public works should not bear the financial burden of procedural inertia. Under the proposed framework, if an unnecessary delay is traced to administrative lapses, the accrued interest cost will be directly recovered from the salary of the errant official or employee.
Addressing senior administrators, Chief Minister Saini pointed out that chronic delays in clearing contractor invoices directly compromise project quality and lead to extended completion timelines. The upcoming policy will outline precise timelines, assign individual accountability, and define structured interest payout provisions. The Chief Minister also issued a stern warning against the misuse of digital signatures and authorization dongles in payment channels, declaring that registered token holders will be held personally accountable for unauthorized transactions, with financial losses deducted from their earnings. To curb exploitation by third-party intermediaries, he further ordered that contractual and outsourced staff must receive their salaries via direct bank deposits rather than through third-party vendors.
The high-level review highlighted several ongoing fiscal and governance innovations across the state administration. Additional Chief Secretary for Finance and Planning Arun Gupta detailed the operation of the SPV-Arjun Council, a unique institutional vehicle established to oversee ₹4,000 crore worth of outcome-linked development projects across nine major departments, with fund disbursements tied strictly to independent verification. To address regional environmental concerns, the state also proposed a Chief Ministers’ Clean Air Forum spanning Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar, treating the Indo-Gangetic plain as a unified air shed requiring collective mitigation strategies.
Significant strides in digital governance were also detailed by Treasury and Accounts Commissioner-cum-Secretary C.G. Rajinikanthan. Haryana pioneered state-level e-stamping, issuing over 6.23 million certificates worth nearly ₹13,650 crore during the 2025-26 fiscal year. Furthermore, the state has transitioned to a completely paperless payroll and billing architecture via e-vouchers, digital signature certificates, and the Reserve Bank of India’s e-Kuber settlement system. The rollout of the SNA Sparsh platform across roughly 16,000 implementing agencies has eliminated manual paperwork for Centrally Sponsored Schemes, achieving fully automated wage disbursements across the state since May 2026.
