Odisha government issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on Thursday for timely payment of maintenance allowances and alimony awarded by competent courts, including a provision to deduct the ordered amount directly from the salaries of government employees.The move follows the government receiving information that certain employees were not paying court-ordered maintenance and alimony on time. According to the SOP, such delays cause financial distress to dependent spouses, children and parents and force beneficiaries to initiate repeated execution proceedings.The new procedure has been prescribed for immediate implementation across all departments to ensure compliance with judicial orders and protect dependent beneficiaries.Once the concerned Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) receives a certified and operative court order directing recovery of maintenance or alimony, the ordered amount will be entered and flagged as a “Private Deduction” in the employee’s monthly pay bill on the Human Resource Management System (HRMS).The deducted amount will be credited directly from the Treasury to the designated Government Current Account mapped to the DDO, pending onward electronic transfer.Before releasing the first installment, the DDO will have to verify the authenticity, validity and operative status of the court decree. The identity and bank account details of the beneficiary must also be verified, along with a signed undertaking in the prescribed format under Annexure-A.The DDO will disburse the amount directly to the verified bank account of the beneficiary through NEFT, RTGS, ECS or any other electronic mode.Beneficiaries will have to appear in person before the DDO twice a year for physical verification, once in April and again six months later in November.The beneficiary will have to provide an undertaking acknowledging that subsequent maintenance or alimony payments will be withheld if they fail to appear for verification within the stipulated six-month period.In such cases, the DDO will halt further disbursements until the required physical verification is completed. Records of the verification will also have to be maintained by the DDO.The concerned DDO will be responsible for ensuring the correct deduction as per the court order, verification of the beneficiary and timely electronic remittance of the amount.Records of deduction, credit and onward payment will have to be maintained for reconciliation and audit purposes.The government said that the procedure is an interim arrangement until an integrated and automated mechanism is developed and operationalised in HRMS/IFMS for the deduction, accounting and direct electronic transfer of maintenance and alimony to beneficiaries.
Odisha govt to deduct court-ordered alimony from employees’ salaries, issues SOP
