Srinagar, Jun 9 (IANS): The Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Council (AC), which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal of winding up the Department of Stationery and Office Supplies, an official said on Thursday.

The decision has been taken in consideration of the fact that the General Financial Rules 2017 mandate the purchase of common use goods and services from the GEM portal.

Accordingly, all departments are making purchases through the GEM portal, thus making the Department of Stationery and Office Supplies non-functional.

Presently, the department has two stationery depots each at Jammu and Srinagar and 12 sub-depots at Doda, Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Udhampur, Anantnag, Baramulla, Budgam, Kupwara, Pulwama, Leh and Kargil.

The department has a sanctioned strength of five Gazetted officials, 113 non-Gazetted officials and 52 class IV employees.

The Administrative Council decided to close the Department and transfer its infrastructure and manpower to the other departments, as per need, for their optimal utilisation.

Earlier, the Department of Stationery and Office Supplies was the nodal agency for procurement of stationery/paper and binding items for their onward supply to all the government/semi-government departments; issued rate contract for copy printers, fax machines, toners, cartridges etc; and appointed a government auctioneer.

However, the advancements in IT interventions have made all these functions simpler, obviating the necessity of maintaining a specialised cadre for the purpose.