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NEW DELHI: The finance ministry on Saturday scotched fears of salaries for government employees being delayed to avoid exceeding the vote-on-account limit, saying that the “procedural issue” will impact just a couple of hundred employees.

“It has been brought to notice that an internal confidential office order pertaining to the department of expenditure, ministry of finance, is being circulated in various social media platforms. It is clarified and informed that the department of expenditure’s order dated 18th June 2019 relating to the disbursal of salary for the month of June 2019 is applicable to only an attached office under the department of expenditure, namely the controller general of accounts and the officials working in the PFMS project cell and is temporary in nature to avoid exceeding the voteon-account limit,” the ministry said in a statement.

The statement was issued after a leaked copy of the confidential order went viral on social media, sparking concern that the salaries of lakhs of government employees might be delayed. Sources said the total number of employees affected would not be more than 200 and they will get their salaries once the Budget is presented on July 5.

“It is only a procedural issue and does not affect all the employees,” a source in the ministry said. He said salaries are generally paid by June 30 and in this case, for employees of this particular office, it would be delayed by only a few days. The finance ministry also urged the public not to circulate the office order. “The general public is also forewarned and cautioned not to circulate the order since it is confidential in nature and may attract punitive actions under the applicable legal provisions,” the official statement said.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her maiden Budget on July 5.

