Legal Affairs Dept integrates LIMBS with PFMS for paperless payments

Ziraat Times News Desk

NEW DELHI: The Department of Legal Affairs (DLA), under the Ministry of Law & Justice, has achieved a major milestone in procedural simplification by successfully integrating its Legal Information Management and Briefing System (LIMBS) with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). This reform establishes an end-to-end e-Bill system for advocate fee disbursal, fully digitizing a process that was previously slow and paper-intensive.

The move aligns with the government’s focus on efficiency, transparency, and Digital India under the ongoing Special Campaign 5.0.

The integration is a significant step away from the former system, which required physical processing, manual verification, and hard-copy submissions to the Pay & Accounts Office, frequently leading to delays.

The enhanced e-Bill module now ensures:

• Paperless Workflow: Bills generated by Law Officers and Panel Advocates on the LIMBS platform are seamlessly transmitted to PFMS for digital verification, sanction, and payment.

• Real-Time Tracking: Each claim generates a Claim Reference Number (CRN), allowing administrative units and beneficiaries to track the progress of payments in real time.

• Timely Disbursement: Once digitally verified and signed by the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO), payments are released directly to the beneficiary’s bank account through PFMS, eliminating all physical file movement.

The DLA stated that this not only reduces processing time and human error but also ensures uniformity and standardization of legal fee payment across various Ministries and Departments.

The DLA’s Central Agency Section (CAS) first implemented the e-Bill module for panel advocate payments through LIMBS in February 2025. Following its success, the Department is now moving to extend the digital system to other litigation units, including the Delhi High Court.

Furthermore, a proposal is being considered to create a Retainer Fee Module within LIMBS to cover the periodic payments made to Law Officers.

The Department of Legal Affairs is committed to expanding this digital reform to other categories of legal fees payments, strengthening digital governance, and contributing to the vision of a Viksit Bharat @2047.