The Centre Government’s own stationery provider has a utility value of just Rs 3 crore while it takes almost Rs 22 crore annually to sustain that organisation.
The Government of India Stationery Office (GISO) procures and supplies stationery, worth just Rs 3 crore, for official use. But, the Government spends a whopping over Rs 22 crore every year simply to ensure the 167-year-old organisation continues to function.
“The Government of India Stationery Office (GISO), a subordinate office under the Minister of Urban Development, was established in 1850. As of now, the Government is spending almost Rs 22 crore on GISO but purchases only about Rs 3 crore worth of stationery from it for use in offices every year,” said an official.
The peculiar situation has been in prevalence for the last 12 years and it arose due to the amendments in the General Financial Rules in 2005 that empowered Minis-tries/Departments to procure stationery directly from agencies other than GISO making it almost redundant.
According to sources, the Urban Development Ministry has now taken note of it and directed the GISO to make a presentation about the money it needs to run the unit and the businesses and services they do in monetary terms.
The Kolkata-headquartered GISO has offices in Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai and is responsible for transparent procurement of stationery and paper-made articles at economical costs and supply to the Government officers for their use.
Soon after the GFR amendments, in 2005-2006, the expenses on the organisation were Rs 9.28 crore while the stationery supplied by GISO stood at a mere Rs 1.63 crore.
The data accessed by The Pioneer reveals the trend continued in the years thereafter. In 2006-2007, the expenses incurred were Rs 9.46 crore against a supply of stationery worth Rs 1.37 crore. In 2007-2008, it was Rs 9.87 crore against just Rs 0.75 crore. In 2008-2009, the expenses on organisation increased to Rs 14.58 crore, and the supply was worth Rs 1.43 crore.
Then again, the GISO spent Rs 18.44 crore on its office and manpower while supplying stationery of Rs 4.41 crore in 2009-2010.
In 2010-2011, the unit did good business of Rs 5.52 crore but spent on itself Rs 18.15 crore. In the subsequent fiscal, the expenses were Rs 17.76 crore against a supply of Rs 4.06 crore. In 2012-2013, the GISO’s expenses further rose to Rs 18.98 crore even as its supplies fell drastically standing at just Rs 2.46 crore.
The upward spending continued in 2013-2014 and 2014-15 as well – Rs 20.09 crore and Rs 21.17 crore respectively. The figures for actual supplies stood at Rs 2.12 crore and Rs 3.35 crore during the corresponding period. last fiscal, (2015-2016), the expenses increased to Rs 21.19 crore while the supplies stood at Rs 5.98 core.
Officials said after the amendment in Rule 140 of the GFR — a compendium of general provisions followed by all Government offices while dealing with matters of a financial nature — the GISO witnessed sharp decline in its business. “The role of GISO reduced. Full powers for procurement of goods were delegated to the Ministries or departments. This led to reduction in supply of stationery, reduction in staff strength, and reduction in budgetary allocation,” said the officials, adding prior to 2005, the GISO was running in losses but was not in such dismal state.
Also, the GISO saw its staff strength getting reduced by half, from 1214 to 622 in 2010. Now it has been further reduced from 399 across the country in 2016. But after the Seventh Pay Commission, the expenses on the running GISO almost doubled in 2016-2017.