Single File System

30. Single File System - (i) This shall apply to matters which have to be referred by the Non Secretariat Office (NSO) to the Department for seeking a sanction/order, i.e. a decision not within its own delegated powers. (ii) This shall not apply to matters which in a hybrid environment i.e. where either the Department or the NSO is still operating in paper mode (non-electronic). In such cases, the procedure detailed in para (iii) to (vii) below will be followed. In cases where both the Department and NSO are electronically connected, the workflow given below will be followed: (a) The SFS file need not bear an I.D. No. or other formal method of sending, but will be sent as though it is from one officer to another in the same organization. (b) The SFS file shall be completed in all respects, so as to enable the Department to take a decision expeditiously; hence the NSO will ensure that: (i) every point for decision/order is clearly brought out; (ii) all relevant connected papers are placed on the file/e-files, properly arranged and referred to; (iii) draft orders/sanctions are put up, where they are required to be approved by the department for issue; and (iv) the availability of funds, etc., is certified where additional expenditure is involved in the proposal. (iii) The officer last dealing with the SFS case in the NSO shall mark it to the appropriate officer in the Department, by name; policy files will, however, be 29 referred to the department at appropriate levels to be determined by the Department and the NSO concerned, through a general order. (iv) All SFS files shall invariably be routed through the central registry of the department concerned. (v) As a rule, all noting in the Department will be on the NSO file. However, where sensitive or delicate matters in the sphere of personnel, policy issues and finance are involved; the recording of notes in `duplicate' e-files may be permitted by issuing general or special orders by the Department. This will be done at a particular stage of the SFS case or at or above a particular level, with the final decision thereafter being suitably recorded on the SFS e-file. (vi) As a convention, the secretariat noting on a SFS file shall start on a new page and the noting done sequentially-save in matters of the nature referred to in (v) above. (vii) Action to implement the government decision in SFS case shall be initiated in and by the NSO on the return of the file. Orders so issued should specifically state that these have received the concurrence of Government in the Department concerned. Copies of every sanction/order so issued by the NSO will be endorsed without fail to all the officers concerned in the Department.