General Financial Rules
Also called: GFR · Topic: Government Budget, Fiscal Policy and FRBM · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The General Financial Rules (GFR) are the Government of India's rulebook for handling public money. The Ministry of Finance issues them. They are executive orders, not a law passed by Parliament. They tell every ministry and department how to spend money, keep accounts, give grants and buy goods and services. This buying is called procurement. The main principles are transparency (decisions are open and recorded), competition (open bidding, so many sellers can offer a price) and economy (value for money, with no waste). The GFR matter because Parliament approves the money, but these rules decide how carefully officials spend it.
Example
Under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, Public Sector Undertakings were hired as consultants for the new AIIMS "on nomination", which means they were picked directly without open bidding. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the government's auditor, said this did not follow the GFRs, because the rules expect competitive selection.
Don't confuse with
- FRBM Act: a law passed by Parliament that sets limits on the total deficit and debt of the government. The GFR do not set any deficit target. They govern how each department spends its money and buys things.
- CAG: the constitutional auditor who checks spending after it happens and reports when rules such as the GFR are broken. The CAG enforces the rulebook through audit. It does not write it.