Imprest Cash
(As per Para No.1050 of Indian Railways Finance Code Volume 1)
- Imprest Cash by Railways is “ An Imprest is standing advance of a fixed sum of money placed at the disposal of an Individual (Officer or Supervisor) to meet the following types of expenditure.
1) Petty Office expenses.
2) Cost of raw materials for the diet of indoor patients of hospitals.
3) Emergent charges which cannot be foreseen.
4) Other petty expenses as per extant delegation in each case. Emergency petty advances may also be made on the responsibility of the imprest holder out of imprest money placed at his disposal.
Note - Other petty expenses up to Rs. 15,000 /- in each case
A certificate to be recorded by the procuring official/Imprest holder in the following format:
"I,, am personally satisfied that these goods purchased are of the requisite quality and specification and have been purchased from a reliable supplier at a reasonable price."
1. The amount of an imprest must not be larger than is absolutely necessary. It should be reckoned at the lowest possible figure calculated to suffice for meeting charges of the nature referred to in the preceding paragraph and should be fixed in consultation with the Accounts Officer who will advise as to the appropriate amount of the imprest.
2. Subject to the provisions of the previous paragraph, the General Manager of a railway will have full power to sanction imprests. He may re-delegate his power in this respect to authorities subordinate to him on such conditions as he may think fit to impose. In the case of other offices, the grant of an imprest will require the sanction of the competent authority as decided by Railway Board.
(As per Model SOP, PHOD, HOD, DRM, ADRM,CWM & SAG officers in field units have full powers to sanction the Imprest Cash to the Officers & Supervisors.
3. The number of imprests should not be multiplied unnecessarily. An officer's imprest should meet the needs of every branch of his office. If he has subordinates who require petty sums, he should rather spare a small portion of his own imprest for their use than apply for separate imprest for them, taking acknowledgements from them in the same way as he himself furnishes to the Accounts Officer and retaining them in his office.
4. The responsibility for making proper arrangements for the safe custody of the imprest money rests entirely with the imprest holder and he must at all times be ready to produce the total amount of the imprest in vouchers or in cash.
5. The imprest account should be kept in duplicate, the counterfoil being kept by the imprest holder and the original, supported by the necessary vouchers, forwarded to the Accounts Officer from time to time as the holder of the imprest may require it to be replenished. The account should be closed ordinarily on the 27th of each month and recouped before the end of the month so as to ensure as many of the month's transactions as possible being included in the account. The imprest should be recouped once in a month only.
Important point
- Finance concurrence is required for fixing the Imprest Cash amount.
- Imprest Cash amount to be created purely on the need basis.
- Imprest Cash amount to be reviewed periodically.
- The amount of an Imprest must not be larger than is absolutely necessary.
- It should be reckoned at the lowest possible figure calculated to suffice for meeting the office expenses.
- Total amount of expenditure through Imprest Cash should not be exceeded the Budget grant for the purpose during the year.
- The Imprest Cash holder may sanction emergent petty advances out of Imprest money placed at his disposal. ( that is Mini Imprest Cash out of Imprest Cash sanctioned to the Officer/ Supervisor)
