INSTITUTIONAL PAYMENTUNDER MGNREGS
Every person working under the Schemeshall be entitled to wages at the minimumwage rate fixed by the State Government(or the competent authority concerned) foragricultural labourers under the MinimumWages Act, 1948, unless the wages havebeen notified by the Central Governmentunder Section 6(1) of the Act.
RATIONALE
Timely provision of employmentand payment of wages to NREGAwage earners is critical for thesuccessful implementation of theprogramme. To ensure this,transparency and accountability inthe disbursement of wages isessential.
OPENING OF ACCOUNT
Bank /Post Office accounts should beopened pro-actively on behalf of allconcerned labourers by an appropriateauthority (e.g. Bank / Post Office or GramPanchayat).
Order No.M- 12014/8/2006-NREGADATED 22nd May, 2008 of theUnder Secretary to theGovernment of India,Ministry of Rural DevelopmentDepartment of Rural Development(NREGA Division)
Notificationdated the 26th August 2008of theMinistry of Finance(Department of Economic Affairs),Govt. of India
Post Office Savings Account(Second Amendment)Rules 2008
MAIN FEATURES
•No amount is required to be taken from depositor for opening ofsuch accounts
•No minimum balance needs to be maintained in such accounts
•No deposit other than NREGA wage can be made in these accounts
•These accounts will be non‐transferable and also cannot beconverted into single or joint at a later stage
•No cheque book will be issued to such account holders
•A separate block of account numbers will be allotted to this categoryof account
•A single account may be opened by any of the registered adultmembers of a household whose names are mentioned in the jobcard. For example, if in a job card, there are four adult registeredmembers, all four can open individual single accounts by giving thesame job card number
•A joint account can be opened in the name of husband and wifeprovided that names of both are registered in the job card. The jointaccount will be of Joint ‘A’ category only
•Registration of nomination if applied may be made as usual
MAIN FEATURES contd…
•The depositor who desired to open account under this category has to mention job cardnumber, date of issue of job card and date of expiry of job card in the SB-3 in manuscript.No account will be opened without providing this information.
•The Branch/Sub/Head Postmaster will verify particulars of job card mentioned in SB-3 fromthe job card shown at the time of opening of account and certify on SB-3 that job cardparticulars have been verified from original under his/her dated signatures
•All other formalities applicable to normal savings account ie Specimen Signatures, issue ofPR in EDBO, issue of passbook etc will be followed
•These accounts will not be treated as Silent and as and when an intimation with regard todeletion of name of depositor from job card is received, the depositor may be given optionto close the account and if the account is not closed within 30 days of the receipt ofintimation of deletion of name from job list/card, the account will be closed by thePostmaster himself by filing a withdrawal form of the amount available in the accountalongwith interest if any and the amount will be remitted to the depositor by money orderafter deducting the usual MO commission. In case of death of the depositor, normalprocedure for settlement of claim by the legal heirs will be followed.
•Interest will be credited in such accounts by following the normal procedure laid down forsavings accounts
•Withdrawal from such accounts will be allowed only on production of withdrawal from (SB-7) and Wage Slip issued by the competent authority. Wage slip should be attached withSB-7 and treated as part of voucher
•So far as possible, payment may be made to the depositor himself but in emergent cases,payment may be made to the representative of the depositor for which a written authorityletter from the depositor in manuscript alongwith wage slip is required to be produced bythe representative
•Identification of the depositor may be taken from the Job Card as well as Wage Slip in caseof illiterate depositor or in case of difference in signatures
WITHDRAWAL FROM ACCOUNT
•As per SB ORDER NO. 19 A/2008 dated 10.9.2008 ofthe Ministry of Communications & IT, Department ofPosts it was clarified that “since withdrawal from suchaccounts is allowed only on production of Wage Slip, thefull amount entered in wage slip has to be withdrawn bythe beneficiary at the time of withdrawal and no partwithdrawal is allowed”.
•But as per SB ORDER NO. 7/2009 dated 27th July,2009 of the Ministry of Communications & IT,Department of Posts it was further clarified that “The partwithdrawal is allowed in Workers Wage Accountsopened under NREG Act.”